LIGHT RAP: A federal jury yesterday acquitted music mogul Sean “Diddy” combs of sex trafficking and racketeering charges that could have sent him to prison for the rest of his life, but found him guilty on the lesser counts of transporting people for the purposes of prostitution.

  It was a victory of sorts for Combs, who was facing a grim future even though his convictions carry maximum sentences of 10 years each.

  Combs mouthed “thank you, thank you” to the jurors and later dropped to his knees, evidently praying. But the judge declined to release Combs on bail, citing his history of domestic violence.

  The prosecution had portrayed Combs as the head of a criminal enterprise who “used power, violence and fear to get what he wanted.” A prosecutor said Mr. Combs used violence, financial control, and threats to manipulate girlfriends into marathon sex sessions known as “freak offs” with hired men, while he masturbated and recorded video.

  Combs’ lawyer had portrayed his client as a flawed man who led a wild sexual life, used drugs, and sometimes beat up his girlfriends. But, the lawyer argued, Combs was not a criminal mastermind.

ADMISSION: Former criminology student Brian Kohberger in a court hearing yesterday admitted the November 2022 murders of four University of Idaho students in their off-campus house in a deal that allows him to dodge the death penalty. He agreed to serve four consecutive life sentences.

  “Are you pleading guilty because you are guilty?” Judge Steven Hippler asked. “Yes,” the 30-year-old Kohberger responded, sitting with his lawyers. 

  As the judge read the names of each of the victims, Kohberger admitted that yes, he had killed them. The victims were Kaylee Goncalves, 21; Madison Mogen, 21; Xana Kernodle, 20; and Ethan Chapin, 20.

  Kohberger is on the autism spectrum and showed no remorse or emotion. He was not required to explain why he killed the students or to tell where he stashed the murder weapon, a Ka-Bar Marine combat knife.

  Prosecutor Bill Thompson said, “He killed — intentionally, willfully, deliberately, with premeditation, and with malice and forethought.”

THE BIG VOTE: A group of Republican holdouts has fallen into line with the House leadership, allowing President Trump’s big tax, spending, and policy bill to come to the floor for a final vote later today. Even so, it’s still not certain the bill will pass.

  Leaders said members were in personal communication with the President airing their grievances about contents of the bill. Trump was busy past midnight pressuring via his Truth Social account: “Largest Tax Cuts in History and a Booming Economy vs. Biggest Tax Increase in History, and a Failed Economy. What are the Republicans waiting for??? What are you trying to prove??? MAGA IS NOT HAPPY, AND IT’S COSTING YOU VOTES!!!”

BUT WAIT, THERE’S MORE: 

— Kilmar Abrego Garcia, the Maryland resident wrongfully deported to El Salvador in March, was beaten, deprived of sleep, and psychologically tortured during the time he spent in El Salvador’s notorious Terrorism Confinement Center, according to his lawyers. They said in a court filing that he and 20 other Salvadoran men deported to the prison from the US on March 15th were once made to kneel overnight “with guards striking anyone who fell from exhaustion.”

  His lawyers said  Abrego Garcia was “denied bathroom access and soiled himself.” They wrote that he and other prisoners were confined to metal bunks with no mattresses in an overcrowded cell that had no windows, but was outfitted with bright lights that remained on 24 hours a day.

— The Trump administration without explanation this week notified states that it was withholding over $6 billion in previously approved federal education grants to schools. The announcement came on Monday, a day before the July 1 deadline when money should have been sent out.  

  The notice only said grants are under review, leaving school districts to scramble without the expected federal funding.

— Donald Trump has taken to wearing a baseball cap that says, “Gulf of America.”

THE SPIN RACK:  Del Monte Foods, the 140-year-old canned fruits and vegetables company, filed for bankruptcy this week.  The company increased production too much during the pandemic and was buried in debt by a 2014 buyout. —  A 21-year-old college student interning for a Kansas member of Congress was killed in Washington Monday night when he was caught in a shooting intended for someone else. Eric Tarpinian-Jachym of Granby, Massachusetts would have been a senor this fall at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst. — Seven people are missing after a fireworks warehouse exploded in Yolo County in northern California.

 BELOW THE FOLD:  The magazine Boat International reports that the super yachts of the ultra-rich are getting bigger and more of them are being made. They define a super yacht as anything  78 feet or longer with a professional crew.

  The magazine says that 1,024 new superyachts were built or on order around the world in 2022, a 25% jump from 2021. That increased to 1,203 in 2023 while designers are packing in everything from helipads to movie theaters, gyms, beauty salons, and saunas.

  If that’s what it takes to keep the rich segregated from the rest of us, fine.

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