TMZ.com

Don't tell Nancy Grace that Diddy's jury should cut him a break for beating and kicking Cassie in the video jurors will watch next week ... she says what you see is EXACTLY the man he is.

Nancy appears on TMZ's new weekly series on Tubi, "TMZ Presents: United States V. Sean Combs: Inside the Diddy Trial," along with Harvey, Mark Geragos, Ashleigh Banfield and Eboni K. Williams.

Eboni suggests the defense will argue Diddy should not be judged by what he did on the worst day of his life. When Nancy heard that, she went ballistic, and everyone else joined in.

The courthouse at the center of the Sean "Diddy" Combs sex trafficking trial got a noticeable facelift over the weekend as crews prepared for the intense continued media spotlight in the coming days.

TMZ obtained video which shows workers repainting security barricades outside the Federal District Court in Lower Manhattan on Sunday. The crews were touching up areas all over the property, giving the site a cleaner, sharper look ahead of trial proceedings.

A fresh coat of black paint was applied to the front-facing barricades, where much of the media has been and will continue to be staged as the world watches.

Diddy is a friend who doesn't deserve to be abandoned ... so says celebrity attorney Mark Geragos, who may or may not be representing him.

Geragos hedged, on the "2 Angry Men" podcast, whether he was among Diddy's pack of lawyers repping him in the criminal trial.

Harvey pressed him, ticking off a load of evidence pointing to Geragos being part of the team -- he was in the gallery all last week passing notes back and forth with Diddy and his lawyers, he went into chambers with lead attorney Marc Agnifilo and came out of chambers with an arm wrapped around Agnifilo's shoulder and he huddled with the defense team -- including his daughter, Teny Geragos -- in the 8th floor cafeteria. In fact, he was so involved, he didn't have time to press his rumpled suit.

Blake Lively's lawyers are asking a judge to force Justin Baldoni, Wayfarer Studios and others to hand over financial records ... claiming that if they want to sue for $400 million, they have to prove they really lost that much.

The actress's team sent a letter to the judge Friday requesting the parties involved in the lawsuit filed against her cough up the records ... which they say they've already tried to obtain

Lively's team claims they met with counsel for Baldoni's side and asked for them to hand over the documents -- but were told they would only be given "non-privileged documents concerning their damages" ... not the docs they requested.

Diddy's lawyers better not bully the prosecution's very pregnant star witness when she takes the stand next week ... so admonishes Nancy Grace!

Cassie Ventura's upcoming testimony became an explosive topic on our new Tubi weekly series, "TMZ Presents United States V. Sean Combs: Inside the Diddy Trial."

Nancy appeared with Harvey, Mark Geragos, Ashleigh Banfield and Eboni K. Williams as they discussed the optics of grilling Cassie about the freak-offs for which Diddy is being tried.

Taylor Swift is being dragged further into the Blake Lively and Justin Baldoni beef -- she just got hit with a subpoena in the case.

Sources with direct knowledge tell TMZ ... Baldoni's attorney Bryan Freedman has now subpoenaed Taylor as a witness in the Lively-Baldoni legal war.

Taylor's camp is blasting the subpoena, because they say she was minimally involved in the drama on the set of "It Ends With Us" ... which sparked a nasty legal war between Blake and Justin.

Druski's not only fighting back against the woman accusing him of rape -- he also wants her attorneys held accountable for not vetting claims he says are provably false ... and he's going to court with receipts.

The comedian and actor filed docs Friday in federal court, calling out Ashley Parham's legal team, citing several documents that clearly refute her allegation he raped her in Northern California on March 23, 2018 ... along with Diddy, Odell Beckham Jr. and others.

However, in the docs, Druski says Parham filed a police report accusing a guy named Shane Pearce and an anonymous white man of raping her on March 23, 2018. The report apparently makes no mention of any other alleged attackers, and Druski says the document was "easily obtainable from the public record."

Bryan Kohberger allegedly ogled photos of college coeds in swimsuits in the months before he allegedly murdered four University of Idaho students.

Some more of Bryan's alleged cell phone browsing history is being revealed by "Dateline" ... they say they got info from cops showing Bryan was checking out female college students in bikinis.

And, get this ... NBC News says they dug through social media and found some of the bikini-clad coeds on Bryan's phone were friends with or followers of 3 of the 4 students Kohberger is accused of murdering ... Xana Kernodle, Kaylee Goncalves and Madison Mogen.

Elizabeth Smart is breaking her silence following the latest legal issue with one of her kidnappers, Wanda Barzee ... ripping her for allegedly getting near some kids.

Elizabeth, who was just 14 years old when she was kidnapped, voiced concerns about Barzee's alleged parole violation.

As we reported ... police in Utah say Barzee was arrested last week after detectives say she allegedly visited at least two public parks in Salt Lake City, a big no-no for the registered sex offender.

Diddy jurors are going to see plenty of video of Diddy beating Cassie in a hotel hallway ... because prosecutors say they plan to show multiple versions of the graphic footage during his trial.

The feds revealed during Friday's court proceedings in Diddy's sex trafficking trial in NYC that they plan to show two videos of the beating that a security guard at the InterContinental Hotel in Los Angeles recorded on a cell phone.

What's more, prosecutors say they will also show three versions of the Cassie beating video that first aired on CNN.

2 PM PT -- Turns out Kanye West's threatening letter to Kim Kardashian accusing her of exploiting their kids is a hoax.

After we spotted a bunch of red flags pointing to this being a phony correspondence -- Kanye's camp confirms to us the letter is bogus ... and they say Ye had nothing to do with it.

Kanye West says Kim Kardashian is not only exploiting their children, but he claims she left North all alone in a car while prancing around the Met Gala this week ... and now he's threatening to drag her to court over all of it.

The rapper's lawyer, Kathy Johnson, sent Kim's attorney, Laura Wasser, a cease and desist letter, "concerning the welfare and custody of Mr. West’s minor children: North West, Saint West, Chicago West, and Psalm West."

As you know, Kim and Kanye got divorced in 2021 after 7 years of marriage and 4 kids. As part of their divorce settlement, they have joint custody of the kids and Kanye pays $200K every month in child support.

The list of alleged Diddy victims involved in his sex trafficking trial is expanding ... because we've learned the feds also have a witness they're calling "Victim 5."

Prosecutors buried the existence of a 5th alleged victim in legal documents last month, but "Victim 5" just came up in court Friday as Diddy's trial proceeds.

Now, this person's identity is still unknown, but that could soon change ... because Judge Arun Subramanian ruled Friday "Victim 5" will NOT be granted anonymity in the trial.

Diddy's defense team is leaning in hard that the music mogul was abusive toward his ex, Cassie ... but they're also saying Cassie was no angel either ... because she allegedly got violent with him, too.

Day 4 of the Diddy trial saw prosecutor Emily Anne Johnson and Diddy attorney Marc Agnifilo having a very interesting exchange with Judge Arun Subramanian in an NYC federal courtroom.

It kicked off with Johnson telling the judge that Victim 1 -- who is believed to be Cassie -- will not be cross-examined about certain medical issues.

The judge then said if prosecutors open the door on the rest of the issues, the defense can walk through it and cross-examine the witnesses.

Mark Geragos won't answer the question -- Is he a member of Diddy's defense team? -- and it made for some lively discussion on TMZ's new Tubi weekly show ... "TMZ Presents: United States V. Sean Combs: Inside the Diddy Trial."

Geragos joined Nancy Grace, Ashleigh Banfield and Eboni K. Williams, when Harvey pressed him on his association with Diddy. It's true, Geragos has repped Diddy on various legal issues in the past, but the question now is whether he's part of the current defense team.

Geragos tried to skirt the issue, but then TMZ producer Brian Andrews popped up and laid out what he saw in the courthouse -- Geragos sitting behind the defense team and passing notes to Diddy's chief lawyers Marc Agnifilo and Teny Geragos (Mark's daughter), Geragos chatting it up with Diddy's lawyer during lunch breaks in the courthouse cafeteria, and Geragos coming out of the judge's chambers as Agnifilo had his arm around Mark's shoulder.

Harvey Weinstein accuser Kaja Sokola claims Weinstein bragged about making stars out of Gwyneth and Penélope Cruz -- right after allegedly sexually assaulting her as a teen.

Testifying in Manhattan Supreme Court Thursday, Kaja Sokola, 39, said she wanted to scream after the alleged assault at 16, but Weinstein told her she had to obey him and keep quiet if she wanted a career like the big-time stars he name-dropped.

As for the alleged assault, Sokola said Weinstein picked her up for lunch, took her to his Soho loft in NYC -- and allegedly touched her vagina and forced her to touch his penis in the bathroom before he "ejaculated on the floor."

Justin Baldoni's lawyer has a challenge for Blake Lively ... he says her testimony should be live-streamed in the world's most famous arena -- Madison Square Garden!!!

Baldoni's attorney, Bryan Freedman, tells TMZ ... "If Blake Lively is really serious about testifying for the world to see, let's live stream it in Madison Square Garden and give the money to the domestic violence survivors."

Freedman's challenge comes in response to Blake's lawyers revealing she absolutely plans to take the stand if their lawsuit actually makes it to trial ... and his idea isn't going over so well in Blake's camp.