Homeland Security Denies Leaking Diddy & Cassie Footage After Lawyer's Accusations

BYGabriel Bras Nevares430 Views
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2022 Vanity Fair Oscar Party Hosted By Radhika Jones  - Red Carpet
BEVERLY HILLS, CALIFORNIA - MARCH 27: Sean Combs attends the 2022 Vanity Fair Oscar Party hosted by Radhika Jones at Wallis Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts on March 27, 2022 in Beverly Hills, California. (Photo by Rich Fury/VF22/Getty Images for Vanity Fair)
The government made their stance clear.

The federal case against Diddy for alleged sex trafficking and other charges became a pretty contentious court affair when his lawyer Marc Agnifilo accused the federal government of allegedly leaking the footage of him assaulting Cassie in 2016 to the press. Specifically, he accused the Department of Homeland Security of this move. Not only that, but the attorney also alleged that the government leaked other grand jury information, used excessive force in their raids on Sean Combs' homes, and he sought to launch an investigation into the matter. Thanks to alleged email exchanges reportedly obtained by AllHipHop, we now have the feds' answer to these allegations.

"The Government did not possess the video published by CNN prior to its public release, and the Government possessed no surveillance video at all from the Intercontinental prior to CNN’s public broadcast," Assistant U.S. Attorney Emily Johnson reportedly stated concerning this Diddy allegation. "Accordingly, we wish to advise you that we consider any assertion in your motion of a purported Government leak related to the Intercontinental surveillance video to lack a good faith basis."

Diddy At The 2023 Met Gala

NEW YORK, NEW YORK - MAY 01: Sean "Diddy" Combs attends The 2023 Met Gala Celebrating "Karl Lagerfeld: A Line Of Beauty" at The Metropolitan Museum of Art on May 01, 2023 in New York City. (Photo by Mike Coppola/Getty Images)

"I don’t believe you can possibly know what DHS agents did and did not do in regard to this videotape," Diddy's lawyer allegedly responded. "We are making it very clear that we believe the U.S. Attorney’s Office was not involved in the leak. However, I don’t feel the same way about DHS. […] We reached out as a gesture of good faith and because we genuinely want to know your perspective. [...] While you can speak from a position of knowledge in regard to your office, I don’t believe you can do so in regard to the agency."

"To be clear, to our understanding, DHS did not have possession of the videotape prior to CNN’s publication of it," Johnson responded to Diddy's defense team. "Only the Government has authority to obtain grand jury material, and the video broadcast by CNN was not obtained through grand jury process." As such, it seems like this is an allegation that Marc Agnifilo will have to argue even further in court if he wants to revisit these alleged leaks.

About The Author
Gabriel Bras Nevares is a music and pop culture news writer for HotNewHipHop. He started in 2022 as a weekend writer and, since joining the team full-time, has developed a strong knowledge in hip-hop news and releases. Whether it’s regular coverage or occasional interviews and album reviews, he continues to search for the most relevant news for his audience and find the best new releases in the genre. What excites him the most is finding pop culture stories of interest, as well as a deeper passion for the art form of hip-hop and its contemporary output. Specifically, Gabriel enjoys the fringes of rap music: the experimental, boundary-pushing, and raw alternatives to the mainstream sound. As a proud native of San Juan, Puerto Rico, he also stays up-to-date with the archipelago’s local scene and its biggest musical exponents in reggaetón, salsa, indie, and beyond. Before working at HotNewHipHop, Gabriel produced multiple short documentaries, artist interviews, venue spotlights, and audio podcasts on a variety of genres and musical figures. Hardcore punk and Go-go music defined much of his coverage during his time at the George Washington University in D.C. His favorite hip-hop artists working today are Tyler, The Creator, Boldy James, JPEGMAFIA, and Earl Sweatshirt.
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