By MICHAEL R. SISAK and LARRY NEUMEISTER, Associated Press

NEW YORK (AP) — Federal prosecutors will begin trying to prove Monday that Sean “Diddy” Combs turned his hip-hop conglomerate into a racketeering enterprise that forced women to satisfy his sexual desires for two decades.

Testimony in Combs’ New York trial could begin as soon as the afternoon following a final phase of jury selection in the morning and opening statements from the lawyers.

Combs, 55, has pleaded not guilty to a five-count indictment that could land him in prison for at least 15 years if he is convicted on all charges. He has been imprisoned at a federal jail in Brooklyn since his arrest in September.

Lawyers for the three-time Grammy winner say prosecutors are wrongly trying to make a crime out of a party-loving lifestyle that may have been indulgent, but was not illegal.

Prosecutors say Combs coerced women into drugged-up group sexual encounters, then kept them in line through violence. He is accused of choking, hitting, kicking and dragging women, often by the hair.

Combs’ former girlfriend, the R&B singer Cassie, is expected to be among the trial’s early witnesses.

She filed a lawsuit in 2023 saying Combs had subjected her to years of abuse, including beatings and rape. The lawsuit was settled within hours of its filing, but it touched off a law enforcement investigation and was followed by dozens of lawsuits from people making similar claims.

Prosecutors plan to show jurors video a security camera video of Combs beating Cassie in the hallway of a Los Angeles hotel in 2016.

Jurors may also see recordings of events called “Freak Offs,” where prosecutors say women had sex with male sex workers while Combs filmed them. The indictment said the events sometimes lasted days and participants required IV-drips to recover.

Combs’ attorney, Marc Agnifilo, has said that the Bad Boy Records founder was “not a perfect person” and was undergoing therapy, including for drug use, before his arrest.

But he and other lawyers for Combs have argued that any group sex was consensual and any violence was an aberration.

After the video of Combs assaulting Cassie in the hotel aired on CNN last year, Combs apologized and said he took “full responsibility” for his actions. “I was disgusted then when I did it. I’m disgusted now.”

The Associated Press doesn’t generally identify people who say they are victims of sexual abuse unless they come forward publicly, as Cassie, whose legal name is Casandra Ventura, has done.

The trial is expected to last at least eight weeks.

It’s the sort of day where you can tell that the state Capitol is bustling with civic activity well before you pass through the security checkpoints. Even by 10 o’clock this sunny March morning, the main parking garage is full. Charter buses, which carried Texans to their capital city from destinations hundreds of miles away, are parked all along the streets. 

On almost every one of the 140 days that the Texas Legislature meets for its biennial session, citizens make the pilgrimage to the pink granite-domed Capitol to engage in activism, persuasion, and admonition. Sometimes they are there of their own individual democratic volition; more often they mobilize on behalf of an organized advocacy group. 

Demonstrators march and gather near the Capitol following the Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Roe v. Wade in June 2022. (AP Photo/Eric Gay, File)

The marquee event is the Texas House Public Education Committee’s hearing on House Bill 3, the lower chamber’s proposed school voucher program. It’s a historic day as a school voucher bill is on track to pass through the House for the first time ever. For the hundreds of pro-“school choice” Texans who’ve traveled there to provide a show of mass popular support, it’s a joyous occasion. For the hundreds of opponents—public school teachers, parents, and other activists who’ve shown up to voice their urgent rebukes—it’s an ominous one. 

The Capitol Extension, an underground complex that sits below the north grounds, first opened back in 1993, nearly doubling the building’s square footage. Here there are 16 committee hearing rooms, conference rooms, an auditorium, a gift shop, and, of course, the popular Capitol Grill cafeteria, which this day is serving frito pies, loaded baked potatoes, and other standard fare.

This is the hive. The cavernous hallways, with terrazzo floors that mirror those in the Capitol proper, and the four-story inverted rotunda are filled with a constant stream of people wandering in large groups, or beelining for a destination—like a shopping mall of democracy. 

Pro-immigrant protesters outside the Texas Capitol in 2017 (Sam DeGrave)

The professionals are easy to pick out from the unwashed masses, who are often all wearing the same colored t-shirts with matching slogans. The lawmakers, dressed in sharp suits or fitted dresses, are often walking briskly with a small entourage of staffers. The lobbyists, typically wearing far more expensive attire, are often the ones sitting on the benches that line the hallways—glued to their phones. On this day, Governor Greg Abbott’s former top aide, now one of the most sought-after lobbyists in Austin, is in an alcove wearing earbuds. 

In the auditorium, about 100 home-schooling families are listening to the Texas Home School Coalition go through a legislative primer on their top priority this session: House Joint Resolution 155, a constitutional amendment to enshrine the right to homeschool in the Texas Constitution. “Freedom is fragile,” Jeremy Newman, the coalition’s vice president of policy, tells the crowd. “We know this because home schooling was illegal in the ’70s and ’80s. We know people now who were in jail because of this.” 

The group has to wrap up its briefing early, apparently so as not to interfere with the governor’s own pro-voucher press event, which is being held at the swanky downtown office of the Texas Public Policy Foundation. With that, the crowd takes their packet of information flyers, streams out of the auditorium, and into the maze of hallways that contain legislators’ offices. 

Pro-Palestine demonstrators ride horses just south of the Capitol in February 2024 (Gus Bova)

Around this time, the Texas Freedom Network is leading an anti-voucher rally on the south steps of the Capitol—the designated area for sanctioned rallies, protests, and press conferences. The granite stairs include a natural “riser” that makes for a perfect stage. For an hourly electricity fee of $35, organizers can plug in their microphones and speakers. For a $50 fee, the State Preservation Board—which is responsible for maintaining all activities on the grounds—can provide a lectern or chairs. 

Shortly after the anti-voucher rally, the gun nuts gather around the south side for a rally to push back against the tyranny of so-called red flag laws in Texas and across the nation. A few dozen members of the Gun Owners of America are in attendance, many donning little red flags attached to their caps. Among the VIP attendees there to help rally the troops are tea party firebrand and Dallas County GOP Chair Allen West, plus Kyle Rittenhouse, who moved to Texas a few years ago after becoming a celebrity in the gun rights movement. The event is sponsored by Patriot Mobile, the premier cell-phone carrier for conservatives and an ardent booster of Christian nationalist politics in Texas. 

Alas, much of what may appear to be grassroots advocacy is in reality heavily engineered. But there is plenty of more organic citizen engagement too. When encountered, it can serve as a much needed salve for the cynicism that comes from closely following the Texas Legislature. 

Family members of those killed in the Robb Elementary School shooting carry a Day of the Dead altar from the Capitol to the Governor’s Mansion in November 2022. (Gus Bova)

Consider Nicholas Gresham, the operator of a small hemp business in East Texas. It’s also a lobby day for the Texas Cannabis Collective. He’s here today to push lawmakers to vote against one of the Senate’s top priorities—Senate Bill 3—that would outright ban any THC products in the state. 

When he heard that the Senate was holding a public hearing on the bill a couple weeks earlier, he felt compelled to leave his wife and newborn in the NICU at a Dallas hospital to drive to Austin to testify. Before the committee, he chastised lawmakers for trying to pull the rug out from under a burgeoning legal hemp industry. 

He came back again on Tuesday to drop off pro-hemp leaflets at legislators’ offices. For him, it’s a matter of protecting his livelihood. (The baby, by the way, is home and healthy now.)

Gresham may not be a high-powered lobbyist who can easily text with or wine-and-dine legislators. And much of his literature may likely end up in the recycling bin at the end of the day. But everyday Texans like him, who have something personal on the line, are essential to each and every legislative session. And you can count on them to keep showing up. 

The post  A Day in a Democracy appeared first on The Texas Observer.

By AMANDA SEITZ and WILL WEISSERT, Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump’s plan to change the pricing model for some medications is already facing fierce criticism from the pharmaceutical industry before he’s even signed the executive order set for Monday that, if implemented, could lower the cost of some drugs.

Trump has promised that his plan — which is likely to tie the price of medications covered by Medicare and administered in a doctor’s office to the lowest price paid by other countries — will significantly lower drug costs.

“I will be instituting a MOST FAVORED NATION’S POLICY whereby the United States will pay the same price as the Nation that pays the lowest price anywhere in the World,” the Republican president posted on social media on Sunday, pledging to sign the order on Monday morning at the White House.

But the nation’s leading pharmaceutical lobby on Sunday pushed back, calling it a “bad deal” for American patients. Drugmakers have long argued that any threats to their profits could impact the research they do to develop new drugs.

Related Articles

US and China take a step back from sky-high tariffs, agree to pause for 90 days

U.S. Says ‘Substantial Progress’ Made in Trade Talks With China

Trump defends the prospect of Qatar gifting him a plane to use as Air Force One

How much could you cut spending? Economic concerns have some Americans setting a ‘no-buy’ rule

Thomas Friedman: What Trump should keep in mind on his big Middle East trip

“Importing foreign prices will cut billions of dollars from Medicare with no guarantee that it helps patients or improves their access to medicines,” Stephen J. Ubl, the president and CEO of PhRMA, said in a statement. “It jeopardizes the hundreds of billions our member companies are planning to invest in America, making us more reliant on China for innovative medicines.”

Trump’s so-called “most favored nation” approach to Medicare drug pricing has been controversial since he first tried to implement it during his first term. He signed a similar executive order in the final weeks of his presidency, but a court order later blocked the rule from going into effect under President Joe Biden’s administration.

The pharmaceutical industry has argued that Trump’s 2020 attempt would give foreign governments the “upper hand” in deciding the value of medicines in the U.S.

It’s likely that Trump’s executive order Monday will only impact drugs covered by Medicare Part B, the insurance for doctor’s office visits. Medicare beneficiaries are responsible for picking up some of the costs to get those medications during doctor’s visits, and for traditional Medicare enrollees there is no annual out-of-pocket cap on what they pay.

A report by the first Trump administration found that the U.S. spends twice as much as some other countries in covering those drugs. Medicare Part B drug spending topped $33 billion in 2021.

Trump has played up the announcement, saying it will save taxpayers big money.

“Our Country will finally be treated fairly, and our citizens Healthcare Costs will be reduced by numbers never even thought of before,” Trump added.

But many Americans won’t see the savings.

Trump’s proposal would likely only impact certain drugs covered by Medicare and given in an office — think infusions that treat cancer, and other injectables. But it could potentially bring billions of dollars in savings to the government — not necessarily the “TRILLIONS OF DOLLARS” Trump boasted about in his post.

Medicare provides health insurance for roughly 70 million older Americans. Complaints about U.S. drug prices being notoriously high, even when compared with other large and wealthy countries, have long drawn the ire of both major political parties, but a lasting fix has never cleared Congress.

More common prescription drugs filled at a pharmacy would probably not be covered by the new order.

Trump’s post formally previewing the action came after he teased a “very big announcement” last week. He gave no details, except to note that it wasn’t related to trade or the tariffs he has announced for much of the world.

“We’re going to have a very, very big announcement to make — like as big as it gets,” Trump said last week.

He came into his first term accusing pharmaceutical companies of “getting away with murder” and complaining that other countries whose governments set drug prices were taking advantage of Americans.

On Sunday, Trump took aim at the industry again, writing that the “Pharmaceutical/Drug Companies would say, for years, that it was Research and Development Costs, and that all of these costs were, and would be, for no reason whatsoever, borne by the ‘suckers’ of America, ALONE.”

Referring to drug companies’ powerful lobbying efforts, he said that campaign contributions “can do wonders, but not with me, and not with the Republican Party.”

“We are going to do the right thing,” he wrote.

By WAFAA SHURAFA, SAMY MAGDY and TIA GOLDENBERG, Associated Press

DEIR AL-BALAH, Gaza Strip (AP) — An American-Israeli soldier taken captive and held for more than 19 months in the Gaza Strip is expected to be released on Monday, Hamas said, as part of a goodwill gesture for the Trump administration that could lay the groundwork for a new ceasefire between the warring sides.

Edan Alexander was snatched from his military base in southern Israel during Hamas’ cross-border terrorist attack on Oct. 7, 2023, which set off the war in Gaza. His expected release would be the first since Israel shattered an eight-week ceasefire with Hamas in March, when it unleashed fierce strikes on Gaza that have killed hundreds.

Hamas has been designated as a terrorist organization by the United States, Canada and the European Union.

Israel has also promised to intensify its offensive, including by seizing the territory and displacing much of its population again. Before the ceasefire’s demise, Israel blocked all imports from entering the war-ravaged Palestinian enclave, deepening a humanitarian crisis there and sparking warnings of a risk of famine if the blockade isn’t lifted. Israel says the steps are meant to pressure Hamas to accept a ceasefire agreement on Israel’s terms.

Israel says that, including Alexander, 59 hostages remain in captivity, about 24 who are said to be alive and the remaining are deceased. Many of the 250 hostages taken by Hamas-led militants in the 2023 attack were freed in ceasefire deals.

Trump says the expected release is ‘hopefully’ a step toward ending the war

After announcing on Sunday its intention to release Alexander, Hamas said in a statement on Monday that the handover would occur later in the day. Israeli authorities did not respond to requests for comment on the timing of the release.

U.S. President Donald Trump, who is set to arrive in the Middle East on Tuesday on his first official foreign trip, said Sunday that the planned release is “a step taken in good faith towards the United States and the efforts of the mediators — Qatar and Egypt — to put an end to this very brutal war and return ALL living hostages and remains to their loved ones.”

“Hopefully this is the first of those final steps necessary to end this brutal conflict. I look very much forward to that day of celebration!” Trump said on his social media platform Truth Social.

Trump, who is traveling to Saudi Arabia, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates, is not scheduled to stop in Israel.

An Israeli official said that Trump envoy Steve Witkoff was expected in Israel on Monday and would meet with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s security Cabinet to discuss nuclear talks with Iran and efforts to free more hostages. The official spoke on condition to of anonymity in line with regulations.

Alexander’s family, which is based in the U.S., was on route to Israel, according to the Hostages and Missing Families Forum, a group representing the captives’ families.

Israel says it still plans to escalate its offensive in Gaza

On Monday, a statement from Netanyahu’s office said Alexander’s release was expected, without indicating timing, and that Israel was not granting any concessions for it.

The statement said Israel did not commit to a ceasefire or to free Palestinian prisoners as part of the release and that it had only agreed to create a “safe corridor” to allow for Alexander to be returned.

The statement said Israel would still carry on with its plans to ramp up its offensive in Gaza despite the expected hostage release. Israel says it won’t launch that plan until after Trump’s visit to the Middle East this week, to allow for a potential new ceasefire deal to emerge.

A statement by the office on Sunday said the U.S. had told Israel that Alexander’s release could lead to a new deal with Hamas to free more hostages.

Netanyahu faces criticism for not freeing all the hostages

Israel’s exact involvement in getting the release off the ground wasn’t immediately clear. But it created a backlash against Netanyahu, with critics accusing him of having to rely on a foreign leader to help free the remaining hostages.

At the opening of his trial for alleged corruption, where he is giving testimony, a woman in the courtroom asked whether he was “ashamed that the president of the United States is saving his citizens and he is leaving them to die there in captivity?”

Critics accuse Netanyahu of not doing enough to free the hostages, saying his insistence on keeping up the war in Gaza is politically motivated. Netanyahu says he aims to achieve Israel’s twin war goals, freeing the hostages and dismantling

Hamas-led militants killed 1,200 people and took 250 captive in the 2023 attack.

Israel’s retaliatory offensive has killed over 52,800 Palestinians, many of them women and children, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry, which does not say how many of the dead were combatants or civilians. It obliterated vast swaths of Gaza’s urban landscape and displaced 90% of the population, often multiple times.

Magdy reported from Cairo and Goldenberg from Tel Aviv, Israel. Associated Press writer Melanie Lidman in Tel Aviv, Israel, contributed to this report.