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One of the biggest mysteries in the Diddy-Cassie saga was answered at the music mogul's federal criminal trial Wednesday ... Cassie settled her lawsuit against Diddy for a whopping $20 million!

Federal prosecutor Emily Johnson was grilling Cassie on Day 2 of her testimony at Diddy's sex trafficking trial in NYC when the questioning turned to a book she wrote about the alleged abuse she suffered at the hands of Sean "Diddy" Combs -- her former longtime boyfriend.

Cassie testified that her mom helped her write a "book with chapters," which she wanted Diddy to read. She testified she sent the chapters to Diddy through her attorney, but Diddy didn't take her book seriously.

3:35 PM PT -- Blake's attorney Michael Gottlieb just filed a motion to strike Justin Baldoni's letter from the court docket as "baseless, unnecessary, improper and abusive."

Blake Lively's attorneys allegedly tried to force Taylor Swift into publicly supporting Lively in her beef with Justin Baldoni by threatening to release Taylor's private text messages if she didn't play ball ... at least according to Baldoni's lawyer.

In new legal docs obtained by TMZ, Baldoni's lawyer Bryan Freedman claims the subpoena he sent to lawyers for Taylor was intended to get information related to possible witness tampering and evidence spoliation.

Freedman claims he has it from a good source that Blake allegedly requested that Taylor delete their text messages.

More fireworks from the Cassie Ventura testimony in the Diddy case ... she told the jury Diddy raped her on the floor of her own home after they broke up -- and she later tried to hurt herself because she couldn't take all the pain.

The singer testified Wednesday that in August 2018 they had a closure conversation to shut the book on their relationship ... meeting at a restaurant in Malibu, where Diddy was being nice, playful and romantic. She said he drove her home and forced sex on her.

Cassie told the jury Diddy's eyes went black as he raped her on her living room floor.

Details of Diddy's alleged "freak-offs" have been coming out in public for months ... and now a man who shot up a Trump hotel in Florida years ago and made wild claims about Diddy and Cassie at the time is seeing his story re-examined in context.

Jonathan Oddi -- who's currently incarcerated in Miami -- dropped some sensational allegations in an exclusive "Banfield" segment on NewsNation Tuesday night, claiming he had been hired years ago by Diddy as a "sex slave" to get it on with Cassie ... and some of his assertions are similar to previous reports about the couple's proclivities.

In May 2018, a masked Oddi walked into the Trump National Doral Miami Hotel and Resort and fired his Glock pistol a bunch of times into the ceiling, then draped an American flag over the front desk and started breaking computers ... and when responding officers showed up, he fired at them, prompting a massive shootout with five cops. He fired at least 16 times ... and was arrested after being shot in his legs.

Cassie Ventura says Diddy had blackmail material on her ... namely, videos from their "freak-offs" ... and she says that made her feel trapped.

She testified Wednesday Diddy would hold the freak-off footage over her head as a way to hurt her, make her fearful.

Cassie told the jury she had previously told Diddy she didn't want to do freak-offs, and that on a commercial flight to New York in June 2013, he sat next to her and played her freak-off videos of her on his laptop and threatened to release them.

Cassie Ventura says there was a painful, physical side-effect from all the "freak-offs" Diddy had her doing with male escorts ... urinary tract infections.

The singer testified in court Wednesday she would take opiates after the freak-offs to numb herself from very painful UTIs.

Cassie told the jury the UTIs would give her a burning sensation, and she got them so often that antibacterial medication stopped working, and she needed more powerful pills ... and turned to opiates.

We're now seeing the full unedited 15-minute-long video of Sean "Diddy" Combs assaulting Cassie in a hotel hallway in 2016, and it reveals the full story -- more than the CNN version showed -- of what went down between them that morning.

The video was released Tuesday night after the second day of testimony in Diddy's federal sex trafficking trial in NYC -- security video from the InterContinental Hotel in L.A.'s Century City on March 5, 2016, showing Diddy following Cassie out into the hallway, pushing her to the ground and kicking her.

The extended video shows different angles from what we've previously seen ... first, a hooded figure emerges into the frame in a hallway on the 6th floor -- it's Cassie -- then we see Diddy wrapped in a towel follow her, and a moment later he's got a bag in one hand, and with the other he's dragging Cassie by her hooded sweatshirt. We see a few other angles from different cameras, some of which we've previously seen.

Los Angeles District Attorney Nathan Hochman talked about the "L" he took in court during a public meeting just hours after convicted double murderers Erik and Lyle Menendez inched closer to freedom with their big legal victory Tuesday.

TMZ obtained video of Tuesday night's panel discussion hosted by Fox L.A. News anchor Elex Michaelson, who questioned Hochman about his loss at the Menendez Brothers resentencing hearing earlier in the day.

Check out video, obtained by TMZ, which shows Michaelson seated next to Hochman and others onstage at L.A.'s Temple Isaiah — and things get tense right from the get-go in front of the crowd.

Erik and Lyle Menendez can celebrate a new court victory -- the judge gave them a new sentence, which allows for parole ... so now, they can get out of prison after facing the state parole board.

The brothers attended Tuesday's resentencing hearing by video, and they were emotional as the judge changed their sentence to 50 years to life ... instead of the life without possibility of parole sentence they originally got.

Menendez family members -- many of whom testified they wanted Erik and Lyle to be released from prison -- also erupted in joy, hugging each other in court as they celebrated their new sentences.

Another big day is in the books for the Diddy sex trafficking trial ... and today was all about Cassie Ventura's testimony as the prosecution's star witness.

Cassie took the stand and testified about freak-offs, Diddy's violent temper, his affection for baby oil and how he made her feel objectified by men ... namely, by urinating in her mouth so much she started choking.

The singer's lawyer, Douglas Wigdor, applauded Cassie for sharing her story when our photog got him outside the courthouse ... and he told us she's likely to be on the stand all day Wednesday, answering questions from prosecutors and being cross-examined by Diddy's legal team.

Cassie is recalling her first "freak-off" ... and she says drugs, alcohol and a bunch of baby oil were involved.

She said Diddy brought up voyeurism at some point in their first year together and she was 22 years old when she agreed to her first freak-off ... telling the jury she agreed because she wanted to make him happy.

Cassie says the freak-off happened at one of Diddy's homes in Los Angeles ... where a male escort was paid to dance and have sex with her.

The Menendez Brothers' day in court has arrived ... the convicted killers are attending a resentencing hearing Tuesday, and attorneys on both sides are making their cases with full-throated support from Erik and Lyle's family members in the courtroom.

Tamara Lucero Goodell is the brothers' cousin once removed -- she's the great niece of Erik and Lyle's deceased mother, Kitty -- and she took the stand in the Van Nuys, L.A. courtroom first. She talked about the shotgun murders of the brothers' parents in 1989 ... which occurred just three weeks before her 9th birthday.

Tamara testified she has no concerns about the brothers committing any crimes if they're released from prison. She said she wasn't aware of any alleged abuse from Kitty or Jose -- an alleged detail the brothers are attempting to leverage for their freedom. She recalled once seeing Jose grabbing the back of Erik’s neck during a tennis match.

Kim Kardashian's lawyer in her Paris jewelry heist trial says it was no easy decision for her to testify ... because she's coming awfully close to her alleged robbers in court.

Michael Rhodes joined us on "TMZ Live" Tuesday and told us what it was like inside and outside the French courthouse where Kim gave some powerful and emotional testimony.

Kim's lawyer says it took her some time to decide she really wanted to testify ... and he says it took a lot of guts because in France, the courtroom setup puts the witness super close to the defense ... so close, in fact, that Kim could feel the presence of the men she says robbed her and made her feel like she was going be raped and murdered.

Scary moment on the streets of Paris just a few miles from Kim Kardashian testifying in the jewelry heist trial ... the daughter of a cryptocurrency CEO and her toddler were attacked by a group of would-be kidnappers who tried to stuff them into the back of a van in broad daylight ... it's all on video, and now cops are investigating.

Footage shows a group of masked men trying to force the woman into a van as she screams for help and her baby daddy shields their child with his body ... taking multiple blows.

The assailants are eventually scared off by a Good Samaritan who rushed over with a fire extinguisher, using it as a weapon.

1:50 PM PT -- Jillian Lauren Shriner appeared in court in Downtown L.A. later Tuesday and pled not guilty to both charges.

The wife of Weezer bassist Scott Shriner was hit with felony gun charges Tuesday ... but, she seems to have caught a break -- because she was facing a far more serious allegation.

Los Angeles County District Attorney Nathan Hochman formally charged Jillian Lauren Shriner with felony discharge of a firearm with gross negligence, and felony assault with a semiautomatic firearm. Jillian was originally booked on suspicion of attempted murder of a peace officer in the April incident.

As we first reported ... Shriner was shot in the shoulder by police officers after allegedly pointing and firing at them on April 8 -- cops were searching her neighborhood for a suspect in an unrelated crime when she came out of her house with a pistol in her hand to investigate.

9:26 AM PT -- Cassie testified the freak-offs "became a job."

She told the jury she had no time to do anything else but have a freak-off and then try to recover. She testified the longest freak-off lasted for four days.

The trial is now taking a break.

9:00 AM PT -- Cassie is testifying about her history with Diddy.

She says he kissed her in a bathroom during her 21st birthday party in 2007 in Las Vegas after she signed with his Bad Boy Records and then they started seeing each other more and more.

Cassie told the jury she would visit Diddy at the Trump Hotel in New York and she would feel nervous and excited when Diddy would invite her to hotels ... thinking they were going to talk about music. Instead, she says he introduced her to oral sex and she "didn't understand it."

She testified she visited Diddy in Miami and when asked what they did together, responded "sexual intercourse." She also told the jury Diddy gave her ecstasy on a boat.

Cassie testified she thought things with Diddy were monogamous, even though at the time he was publicly linked to Kim Porter ... and when asked how Diddy was treating her in the beginning, she said they "had fun."

Cassie Ventura just took the stand and squarely addressed both the beating video and her involvement in freak-offs.

She said the 2016 beating at the hands of Diddy occurred right on the heels of a freak-off. She has not addressed more about the beating ... rather, she began talking about the freak-offs.

Cassie said when the subject of a freak-off -- which she said was the hiring of an escort to have sex with her -- came up, she was "confused, nervous. I wanted to make him happy."