Good morning. Biden has been diagnosed with cancer. Trump and Putin are expected to have a high-stakes call today to discuss the war in Ukraine. We're also covering the latest from the federal trial against Sean Combs.
Biden's cancerFormer President Joe Biden has an aggressive form of prostate cancer. It is Stage 4, the most deadly stage for the illness, and it has spread to his bones. It cannot be cured. However, his doctors may be able to manage the disease and extend his life. Research backed by the National Institutes of Health has improved survival rates. Some men whose prostate cancer has spread "can live five, seven, 10 or more years," a doctor at Duke said. Read more about the disease. Diagnosis: Doctors found the cancer late last week after Biden, 82, attended an appointment to check on urinary symptoms. They discovered a small nodule on his prostate. Treatment: Biden will likely take a drug or injections that limit his testosterone. Responses: President Trump said on social media that he was saddened to hear of the diagnosis. Kamala Harris called Biden a "fighter." His state as president: More details have emerged recently about Biden's declining health in office, in a new book and in audio that reveals how frail he sounded late in his presidency. Listen to the audio, which was The Morning's most clicked link yesterday. Family health: This isn't the first public diagnosis for Biden. In 1988, he battled two brain aneurysms that threatened to end his political career. His son Beau died in 2015 from an aggressive form of brain cancer. As vice president, Biden led a "moonshot" initiative to find a cure for cancer.
The trial of Sean Combs
Sean Combs, the rapper and producer known as Diddy, will return to a courtroom in Manhattan this morning. The charges he faces, which include racketeering conspiracy and sex trafficking, could put him in prison for life. The trial this week will focus on the testimony of former employees and other witnesses who were privy to Combs's violent outbursts. But its most dramatic revelations may have emerged last week during the testimony of Casandra Ventura, a singer also known as Cassie who dated Combs on and off for 11 years. At the core of the case are "freak-offs," voyeuristic sex marathons with male prostitutes that prosecutors say Combs coerced Ventura and another woman to participate in. Combs's lawyers have argued that the government has twisted consensual sex with long-term girlfriends into serious federal charges. Though the trial is expected to last about seven more weeks, several early moments are likely to stick with jurors. In today's newsletter, I'll tell you about them. A relationship on trialVentura, who is eight and a half months pregnant, took the stand over four grueling days. She recounted the heady beginnings of her relationship with Combs and read aloud affectionate and sometimes sexually explicit texts she wrote to him throughout their relationship. But she also described a pernicious pattern of beatings that she said left her in a state of fear, as well as drug-fueled sex marathons that she said she participated in to avoid his anger or retaliation. "I just felt like it was all I was good for to him," Ventura testified.
'Disgusting' and 'overwhelming'In a particularly arresting moment on the stand, she described an episode in which Combs — who she said was the sole director of freak-off activity — told an escort to urinate on her. Ventura: It was disgusting. It was too much. It was overwhelming. I choked. There couldn't have been anything on my face that was reading that I wanted to be doing that. I was kind of just laid on the floor in a position that I couldn't easily get out of, so — Prosecutor: Were you able to tell the escort to stop? Ventura: I just kind of put my hands up and eventually Sean saw and he told them to stop. Reams of text messagesThe jury saw a mountain of communications between the couple, some of which the defense presented as evidence that Ventura was a willing participant in the freak-offs. Two text messages between the couple ahead of a freak-off in 2016 were parsed at length. "So what you gonna do so I can plan the rest of my night," Combs wrote to Ventura. "Baby, I want to FO so bad," Ventura replied, using an abbreviation for freak-off. She wrote that she was conflicted because she did not want to mess up her body before an important movie premiere. The prosecution hopes her testimony will convince jurors that her outward enthusiasm was something of a facade to maintain calm in a relationship plagued by violence and control. An engaged defendantDressed in a revolving set of crew-neck sweaters, his hair graying, Combs has appeared actively engaged in his own defense, writing notes to his lawyers on green Post-its. His family — including his mother and six adult children — have come to support him.
When court adjourned on Friday, the judge declared to a weary group of lawyers, "We made it through the first week." Combs raised his right fist and shook it from the defendant's chair. What's nextWith Ventura, their star witness, off the stand, prosecutors will now look to build their broader racketeering case, in which they allege that Combs acted as the kingpin of a criminal enterprise that helped him commit kidnapping, arson, drug violations, bribery and other crimes. Prosecutors say that an inner circle of bodyguards and high-ranking employees conspired to abet Combs's crimes over a 20-year period. The defense denies the existence of any criminal conspiracy. We'll also hear from at least two other witnesses whom the government says Combs had coerced into sex. That could mean more emotional testimony about how the music mogul treated women.
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