This page reflects the news from Sean “Diddy” Combs’ trial on Friday, June 13. For the latest updates from Diddy’s trial, read USA TODAY’s live coverage for Monday, June 16. 
This story contains graphic descriptions that some readers may find disturbing.
A surprise guest showed up as Sean “Diddy” Combs‘ criminal trial was underway for the day on Friday, June 13.
Kanye “Ye” West, who has vocally supported Combs amid his legal troubles, briefly watched the court proceedings on a screen in an overflow room before leaving the courthouse shortly afterward.
His arrival came a day after the Combs’ ex-girlfriend, testifying under the pseudonym “Jane,” described being flown to a birthday party on another rapper’s private jet. However, it was unclear why Ye made an appearance, if he will testify or if he has any involvement in the case.
And another courtroom shocker: Judge Arun Subramanian made a move toward dismissing controversial Juror No. 6 in the trial late Friday afternoon. He’s slated to make a final determination by June 16.
As the prosecution continues to build its case against Combs, jurors heard from one of Combs’ assistants, Jonathan Perez – who described cleaning up after “king nights” – aka “freak offs” – his as well as a federal agent, who testified about the 900 Astroglide bottles he witnessed while raiding Combs’ Los Angeles home.
Combs, 55, was arrested in September and charged with sex trafficking, racketeering and transportation to engage in prostitution. He has pleaded not guilty.
Subramanian said that there are “several inconsistencies” surrounding details about where Juror No. 6 lives and with whom he lives.
“The juror is unable to answer simple questions,” Subramanian said, adding that “there are serious questions about the juror’s candor and ability to follow instructions.”
Subramanian added that it “seems like a trivial matter,” but it “goes to a juror’s basic criteria to serve.” Due to the juror’s “changing answers and inconsistency,” Subramanian said it raises questions about whether the juror was truthful in other questions more directly related to the case.
After Combs’ lawyer Xavier Donaldson raised an objection, Subramanian said he’ll think about it and let the parties know if he changes his mind.
The judge has move a move toward dismissing Juror No. 6 after federal prosecutors on June 11 raised the alarm over statements he’d made. Subramanian said the “removal of the juror is required,” noting that “the juror will be dismissed.” In court, Subramanian continued to explain his reasoning for the removal, which stemmed from three separate interviews: one from voir dire, one from the robing room and one from colloquy.
Subramanian told the court that the juror had an offhand conversation with a member of the jury department, in which the juror indicated he recently moved in with his girlfriend in New Jersey, which is where he had been staying most of the time. In voir dire, when asked where he lived, the juror said he lived in the Bronx with his fiancée and baby daughter. But in a different interview when asked where he lived, the juror said he had an apartment in New York where he stayed four to five nights a week when he was working and doing jury duty.
Juror No. 6’s baby was born in New Jersey, and he noted that his girlfriend recently got an apartment in his home state “so she’s been living there” and that’s where his daughter lives. But in a separate interview, “he indicated he lived in New York with his aunt.”
A woman who first accused Combs of impregnating and drugging her in a September lawsuit has revealed her name.
Chelsea Lovelace amended her New York State Supreme Court complaint on June 13, revealing herself as the woman who accused Combs of a “years long pattern of abuse, manipulation and control” that allegedly took place from 2020 until his arrest in September 2024.
In the filing reviewed by USA TODAY, Lovelace also said Combs allegedly forced her to “have vaginal intercourse without her consent,” drugging her and impregnating her, and that Combs and his staff recorded their sexual encounters without consent. The woman said she later had a miscarriage around 2022.
On the stand, Perez recalled an incident in Combs’ Los Angeles home in which he allegedly heard Combs’ videographer yelling from another room. When Perez went into the room, he found a video on a staff iPad of Jane having sex with another man as Combs was in the background.
About an hour or two later, Perez said, he told Combs about the video, asking whether he should delete it, lock it in a safe or something else. Later that day, when Kristina “KK” Khorram arrived, Perez also told her about the video, he said. Khorram told him that in the future, things like the video should be brought right to her, and she would communicate them to Combs, Perez testified.
About six months after he saw the video, Khorram pulled Perez aside to ask once again about the video. She said she got a call from someone outside the company about the video, and she wanted Perez to tell her again “exactly what happened, beat by beat.” Khorram recorded their conversation, and the court heard audio of their interaction.
In the audio, Perez explained that a videographer said, “There’s something on the iPad that I shouldn’t be seeing,” and he saw it while scrolling through the iPad’s camera roll.
Khorram said, “We have camera footage at the house, so we’ll be able to know exactly who was there.” Perez said on the stand that he “didn’t want to delete and then have it come up later.” In the audio, Perez said, “I think Mr. Combs might have thought he’d been compromised in some way.”
In a text exchange with Perez, Khorram and Joey Chavez – another assistant – Khorram continually checked in on the progress of the “freak off” room set up. During the exchange, Perez and Chavez let her know that there were fruits, shakes, juices and a pair of large shorts for Combs.
Perez was on his way to an adult store to send pictures of lingerie outfits, texting the pictures to Khorram, who would then send them to Jane for her approval. In one text, Khorram asked them how the cleanup was going. “Slipped and fell twice,” Chavez replied, seemingly in reference to the copious amount of Astroglide lubricant and baby oil used during “king nights.”
On Friday, Combs’ former personal assistant Jonathan Perez took the stand. He worked as a personal assistant for Combs from the end of 2021 to September 2024, the month he was arrested in Manhattan.
A part of Perez’s job duties was setting up what they called “king nights” – aka “freak offs” – and the court saw text messages where Perez told “Jane” and Combs that he had left two candles and a room phone in front of the room door and that he was only nine minutes away if they need anything.
Ye, whose unexpected arrival adds another layer of intrigue to an already closely watched trial, went to a second overflow room that the court opened up. He sat in the room for 10 minutes or less and was watching a bit of testimony before leaving.
The rapper was then seated in the front row of overflow room 23B, watching the monitor with his bodyguards. He wasn’t seen saying anything, but one of his bodyguards turned to him and appeared to explain something. After about seven to 10 minutes, he got up and they all left the courthouse. An unnamed security guard alleged Ye was at the courthouse the day prior for an hour, though reports or sightings did not surface.
Jonathan Perez, one of Combs’ former assistants, was testifying at the time.
After a week on the stand, Combs’ former lover from 2021 to 2024, Jane, wrapped her testimony on June 12.
One of the biggest moments in her testimony was her recollection of June 18-19, 2024, when Combs allegedly first physically abused her. The confrontation, she said June 12, took place after she’d attended a Las Vegas birthday party with another rapper months earlier.
The morning after the alleged attacks and sex acts, which purportedly included “forced oral sex” with an escort, Jane recalled Combs angrily asking her, “How could you go to another man’s freak off?” in reference to the birthday party.
In response, Jane said she told Combs nothing happened and that she was merely there with a friend.
During court proceedings June 12, Combs’ lawyers sought to name people who were at the birthday party Jane attended in Las Vegas, including the rapper, but the judge blocked the request.
When cross-examination later resumed, defense attorney Geragos described this person as a very successful rapper at the top of the music industry, and an icon who was close with Combs and previously recorded with him.
Combs has a major influence and reach in the music industry. He has rubbed shoulders with many of the biggest names in music over his three-decade-long career, and has worked with countless iconic rappers over the years.
After a to-do over his testimony, Andre Lamon, a Homeland Security Investigations agent, took the stand. Lamon is part of a human trafficking and smuggling group at the agency and led the search warrant for Combs’ Los Angeles home.
Lamon said he found 900 bottles of Astroglide, a personal lubricant, and 200 bottles of baby oil. The court then saw pictures with stacks and stacks of boxes of Astroglide as well as dozens of bottles of baby oil stashed in drawers. Authorities also found multiple bags containing ketamine, as well as a sealed packet that had lingerie, Lamon said.
Agnifilo also said he wanted to be allowed to cross-examine the agent about the way the music mogul’s Miami estate was secured. The raids, at the time, made headlines and began generating larger interest in the case.
Combs was not there at the time, he said, but his two sons were. The agents came in with long guns pointed at them, took the men at gunpoint to a different area and handcuffed them. If the government opened the door, Agnifilo could cross-examine on that, the judge said; otherwise, it was relevant.
Before Lamon took the stand, lawyers for both sides discussed the federal agent’s upcoming testimony. Defense attorney Marc Agnifilo objected to the agent testifying because he was not the person who first found the guns in Combs’ residence.
“They don’t know where they got the baby oil, fine. They don’t know where they got the Astroglide, great. These are firearms. … I don’t want to start playing Russian roulette with guns,” Agnifilo said.
The government countered that they planned to elicit testimony from the witness that the guns were found in Combs’ security office, which has a lock on the door and a gun safe, but by the time this agent got there, the guns had already been secured by a previous team. The judge approved the testimony.
Before the jury was called in for the day, the parties discussed one of the jurors, anonymously identified as Juror No. 6, with Judge Subramanian.
The problem arose when the juror made an offhand comment to one of the jury staff members, which appeared to be inconsistent with what he said during prospective juror questioning.
The juror initially said he lived in the Bronx, but the court later learned he had moved two weeks earlier. The judge suggested that the juror be brought in for more questioning to determine whether he had been untruthful or was simply mistaken.
In documents filed about the issue, Combs’ lawyers accused the prosecution of bias because Juror No. 6 is Black, mirroring a similar claim raised by the defense during jury selection. In court this morning, Subramanian said, “There is absolutely no basis for that suggestion. There is no evidence … of any biased conduct from the government.”
Subramanian planned to decide by the end of the day if the juror should be questioned again.
As her cross-examination continued on June 12, Jane was asked by Combs’ attorney Teny Geragos about the alleged physical fight she and Combs had at her Los Angeles home in June 2024.
Jane testified that she had a “weird feeling” about him allegedly bringing a younger woman on a family trip at the time. Jane previously said on the stand that she now knows the woman in question was younger than her, but not a minor. (Combs has not been formally accused by the government of assaulting a child.)
At one point during the argument, when Combs bent down, Jane admitted that she pushed his head into the counter and threw a glass and two candles at him.
After pushing Combs, Jane said she tried to lock herself in different rooms, but he kicked in the door each time. She was telling him to leave and that she hated him, and he allegedly kicked her in the leg. She fell, but Combs allegedly lifted her into a chokehold until she couldn’t breathe.
As more of Jane’s and Combs’ communications were read to the court during the June 12 hearing, one message from the rapper, sent to a sex worker, indicated he was looking for someone to convince Jane to do a “hotel night.”
After Jane had texted Combs to turn down a night of sex — “I know what you want, baby, but I’m not really in the mood for that part. I don’t want to make you mad,” she wrote — Combs seemingly texted the male escort, “Imma need you to persuade her. If she heard from you we’re in.”
When Geragos asked Jane if seeing that message had made her upset, Jane replied, “Wouldn’t that make you upset?”
After CNN published surveillance footage in May 2024 of Combs beating his then-girlfriend Casandra “Cassie” Ventura Fine at a Los Angeles hotel, Jane shared shared in her testimony that her friends encouraged her to break up with him amid the public outcry over the video, but the woman maintained she wanted to support Combs at the time.
She said Combs had never laid a hand on her at that point in their relationship. “You felt this was another example of how complicated he was?” Geragos said.
“Like in his past?” Jane answered. “Yes.”
Combs is facing federal sex-crimes and trafficking charges in a sprawling case that has eroded his status as a power player and kingmaker in the entertainment industry.
He was arrested in September 2024 and later charged with racketeering, sex trafficking and transportation to engage in prostitution. The rapper has pleaded not guilty to the five counts against him.
Combs’ trial is expected to last for approximately eight weeks in total. Judge Subramanian has said he’s hopeful proceedings will wrap up by the July 4 holiday.
Racketeering is the participation in an illegal scheme under the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Statute, or RICO, as a way for the U.S. government to prosecute organizations that contribute to criminal activity.
Using RICO law, which is typically aimed at targeting multi-person criminal organizations, prosecutors allege that Combs coerced victims, some of whom they say were sex workers, through intimidation and narcotics to participate in “freak offs” — sometimes dayslong sex performances that federal prosecutors allege they have video of.
The trial will not be televised, as cameras are typically not allowed in federal criminal trial proceedings.
USA TODAY will be reporting live from the courtroom. Sign up for our newsletter for more updates.
Contributing: USA TODAY staff
If you are a survivor of sexual assault, RAINN offers support through the National Sexual Assault Hotline at 800.656.HOPE (4673) and Hotline.RAINN.org and en Español RAINN.org/es.
If you or someone you know is a victim of domestic violence, call the National Domestic Violence Hotline at 800-799-7233 or text “START” to 88788.

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India-UK Trade Deal: Goyal, UK Minister to Push FTA Implementation in London  Deccan Herald
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Petrol production at Nigerian business tycoon Aliko Dangote’s $20bn (£15.5bn) state-of-the-art oil refinery ought to be some of the best business news Nigeria has had in years.
But many Nigerians will judge its success on two key questions – firstly: "Will I get cheaper petrol?"
Sorry, but probably no – unless the international price of crude drops.
And secondly: "Will I still have to spend hours watching my hair turn grey in a hypertension-inducing fuel queue?"
Hopefully those days are gone but it might partly depend on the behaviour of what Mr Dangote calls "the oil mafia".
For much of the time since oil was first discovered in Nigeria in 1956, the downstream sector, which includes the stage when crude is refined into petrol and other products, has been a cesspit of shady deals with successive governments heavily involved.
It has always been impossible to follow the money, but you know there is something dreadfully wrong when the headline "Nigeria’s state-owned oil firm fails to pay $16bn in oil revenues", pops up on your news feed, as it did in 2016.
It is only in the last five years that the state-owned Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPC) has been publishing accounts.
The Africa head at the Eurasia Group think-tank, Amaka Anku, hails the Dangote refinery, in which the NNPC has a 7% stake, as "a very significant moment" for the West African state.
"What you had in the downstream sector was an inefficient, corrupt monopoly," she says.
"What the local refinery allows you to do is have a truly competitive downstream sector with multiple players who will be more efficient, profit making and they’ll pay taxes."
To put it bluntly, the population of this oil-rich nation has been conned on a colossal scale for many years.
Oil revenue accounts for nearly 90% of Nigeria’s export earnings but a relatively small number of business people and politicians have gorged themselves on the oil wealth.
Aspects of the business model have been baffling, including that of Nigeria’s four previously existing oil refineries.
Built in the 1960s, 70s and 80s, they have fallen into disrepair.
Last year Nigeria’s parliament reported that over the previous decade the state had spent a staggering $25bn trying and failing to fix the moribund facilities.
So Africa’s largest oil producer has been exporting its crude which is then refined abroad, much to the delight of some well-connected traders.
It would be like a bakery with a broken oven. But rather than fix it, the owner sends balls of dough to another firm that shoves them in a working oven and sells the loaves back to the baker.
The NNPC swaps Nigeria’s crude oil for the refined products, including petrol, which are shipped back home.
Exactly how much money changes hands and who benefits from these "oil swaps" is just one of the unknowns in these deals.
"No-one has been able to nail down who exactly has benefited. It’s almost like a beer parlour gossip about who is getting what," says Toyin Akinosho of the Africa Oil+Gas Report.
The NNPC began subsidising the price of petrol in the 1970s to cushion the blow when global prices soared. Every year it clawed this money back by depositing lower royalty payments – the money it received for every barrel pumped out of the ground – with the Nigerian treasury.
In 2022 the subsidy cost the government $10bn, more than 40% of the total money it collected in taxes.
On his second day in office Nigeria’s Vice-President Kashim Shettima referred to "the fuel subsidy scam" being "an albatross around the neck of the economy".
Nigerian oil expert Kelvin Emmanuel says in 2019 the country’s official petrol consumption "jumped by 284% to 70m litres per day without empirical evidence to justify such a sharp increase in demand".
Parliament has previously reported that – at least on paper – importers were being paid to bring in far more petrol than the country consumed. There was a lot of money to be made exporting some of the subsidised petrol to neighbouring countries where prices were far higher.
The NNPC earned billions of dollars a year from the crude oil production. But for many years, under previous governments, some of its profits never reached the treasury as it was accused by state governors and federal lawmakers of including these inflated subsidy costs on its balance sheet.
The NNPC did not respond to a request for an interview or a response to these allegations but in June denied it had ever "inflated its subsidy claims with the federal government".
It may have been the main source of revenue for successive governments but for decades, until 2020, the board did not disclose its audited accounts. Its press release from March this year promised more transparency and accountability.
After coming to power in May 2023, President Bola Tinubu said the subsidy was unsustainable and suddenly cut it – pump prices immediately tripled.
He also stopped the policy of artificially propping up the value of the local currency, the naira, and let market forces determine its value.
When he took over, the exchange rate was 460 naira to the US dollar. In November 2024 it was over 1,600.
The triple shock of higher fuel prices, sporadic shortages of supply and a depreciating currency has been a tough body blow for people across the country, many of whom are forced to run generators to keep the lights on and phones charged.
"Beyond the financial burden, the uncertainty and stress of constantly dealing with fuel shortages have added a layer of anxiety to everyday tasks," is how one Lagos resident summed it up.
"I feel like I’m always navigating through crisis mode. It’s exhausting."
As the naira plunged and pump prices increased several times, the government, aware of the potential danger of protests, continued to pipette some medicine to the masses.
In a move which could be likened to swallowing half a paracetamol for acute appendicitis, the government made sure people were paying slightly less than the market rate for a litre of petrol.
In other words, the NNPC was selling at a loss and the subsidy was still alive.
But with two recent increases in October, Nigerians are now paying market prices for fuel for the first time in three decades. In the main city Lagos it went up from 858 naira ($0.52) to 1,025 naira per litre.
One of the major factors in Nigeria’s economic crisis has been a limited supply of foreign currency. The country does not export enough products and services to bring in the dollars.
But lots of people, including fuel traders, have been chasing the same limited supply of foreign currency, which leads to the naira losing even more value.
The good news is that Mr Dangote’s facility is going to buy crude and sell refined fuels in Nigeria in the local currency, which will leave more dollars available for everyone else.
The bad news for those hoping this will mean cheaper fuel is that the price Mr Dangote pays for a barrel of local crude will still be the naira equivalent of the international cost in dollars.
So if the price of crude goes up on the world market, Nigerians will still be forced to fork out more naira. Refining locally will mean less freight costs but that’s a relatively small saving.
It is hoped that the arrival of Mr Dangote’s oil refinery will help bring a measure of transparency to the sector.
He knew he would be upsetting some of those who benefit from the murky status quo when the $20bn project began. But, he says, he underestimated the challenge.
"I knew there would be a fight. But I didn’t know that the mafia in oil, they are stronger than the mafia in drugs," Mr Dangote told an investment conference in June.
"They don’t want the trade to stop. It’s a cartel. Dangote comes along and he’s going to disrupt them entirely. Their business is at risk,” says Mr Emmanuel, the oil expert.
The fact that there have been some public disagreements with the regulator has only fuelled that suspicion.
Mr Dangote’s refinery near Lagos is thirsty, with a capacity of 650,000 barrels of crude a day.
You would have thought being located in Nigeria would make supply easy but then up pops this headline: "Nigeria’s Dangote buys Brazilian crude".
It follows a row over supply and pricing. The regulatory authority has complained about Mr Dangote’s negotiating tactics.
Nigeria’s crude oil is low in sulphur and, as one of the most prized in the world, fetches a higher price than many of its competitors.
When discussions over price began, Farouk Ahmed, the chief executive of the Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority (NMDPRA), accused Mr Dangote of "wanting a Lamborghini for the price of a Toyota".
Mr Dangote has complained of not being allocated as much crude as earlier agreed but even when the price issue is resolved, he will still need to import some crude.
“NNPC doesn’t have enough crude for Dangote. Despite all this instruction to give ample supply of crude to the refinery, NNPC can’t supply Dangote with more than 300,000 barrels per day," says Mr Akinosho of the Africa Oil+Gas Report.
He says this is partly because the NNPC has pre-sold millions of barrels of oil for loans.
In August 2023 it secured a $3bn loan from the Afreximbank financial institution. In return it is due to supply 164 million barrels of crude.
In September the NNPC admitted it was significantly in debt. It was reported to be owing its suppliers around $6bn for fuel brought into the country.
Nigeria’s oil production has plummeted in recent years from around 2.1 million barrels per day in 2018 to around 1.3 million barrels per day in 2023.
The NNPC has been stressing oil theft as the number one reason why production has dropped.
It says in just one week – from 28 September to 4 October – there were 161 incidents of oil theft across the Niger Delta and 45 illegal refineries were "discovered".
But Ms Anku believes that "the theft problem is overrated by the NNPC and the oil sector".
"It’s a convenient excuse,” she adds.
She points to other contributing factors causing the drop in production, including international oil companies selling their on-shore oil fields – some of which may no longer be viable having pumped oil for 60 years.
The 66-year-old Dangote, who is listed by the Bloomberg Billionaires Index as the second wealthiest person in Africa, made his fortune in cement and sugar.
He has always denied the suggestion that his empire benefitted from links to politicians in power who helped ensure he had a monopoly.
Today there are those who are critical of Mr Dangote’s tactics and amid tension with the regulatory authorities, the same accusation has resurfaced when it comes to the supply of fuel in Nigeria.
"Mr Dangote asked me to stop issuing licences for importation and that everyone should buy from him. To which I said 'No' because it’s not good for the market. We have energy security interests," says Mr Ahmed of the regulatory authority.
Mr Dangote has not commented on the accusation but has said it makes business sense for the traders to buy from his refinery rather than from outside.
A feud between the regulator and Mr Dangote over supplies and pricing has rumbled on and morphed into another row with local fuel traders refusing to buy from the new refinery.
The mud slinging has also included allegations that some traders have been buying up substandard fuel from Russia which is then blended with other products before being shipped into Nigeria.
But not everyone is worried or surprised by the disagreements.
Ms Anku points to lessons learnt from US businessmen back in the 19th Century.
"The JP Morgans and the Stanfords – they didn’t have it easy either. That’s why they had to go and get government support and subsidies to build their railways and so on.
"I see the drama as a very normal process as you’re changing the structure of the economy. There are losers, they lash out. There’s no chance they’ll stop the refinery from working or selling its products to the Nigerian markets… in my view."
The modern, local refinery has also led to a debate over the quality of fuel on the market. It is an important issue given the vast number of generators belching out fumes across Nigeria as a result of the woeful power supply.
"Every day I wake up to the smell of what I’m sure [could] kill me. It’s because of the quality of the diesel," says Mr Akinosho.
He sees Mr Dangote’s refinery as a real opportunity for higher quality petroleum products in Nigeria which would be better for both car engines and people’s lungs.
But right now, Nigerians being hit hard in the pocket may find it difficult to be optimistic.
Arguments between officials at the Dangote refinery, the oil marketers and the regulators are batted back and forth in the media. All sides have been accused of hiding some facts and figures which leaves people guessing what is going on inside this still somewhat opaque industry.
"Everyone is a villain. There are no heroes here," concludes Mr Akinosho.
Go to BBCAfrica.com for more news from the African continent.

Follow us on Twitter @BBCAfrica, on Facebook at BBC Africa or on Instagram at bbcafrica
Etienne Davignon, 92, is accused of involvement in the detention of Patrice Lumumba before he was killed in 1961.
Protesters, angry with the death of a blogger in custody, demand the sacking of a senior policeman.
Mali will have a majority stake in the plant asserting its "economic sovereignty", the military leader says.
A previous law that activists said was used to silence opponents was struck down by the Supreme Court.
The war is in strategic stalemate, but Sudan is no-one's priority – an orphan in a region that is ablaze.
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Liberal senator called PM’s failure to meet with US president an ‘abject failure’
Australia news live: latest politics updates
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Donald Trump is leaving the G7 summit in Canada a day early, skipping meetings with leaders including Anthony Albanese as he returns to Washington amid escalating war in the Middle East.
The White House press secretary, Karoline Leavitt, said the president would return to the US after an official dinner with the G7 leaders on Monday night, local time.
Trump told Canada’s prime minister and summit host, Mark Carney, the other leaders of the world’s biggest economies would understand his early exit.
“I have to be back as soon as I can,” he said. “I wish I could stay until tomorrow, but they understand, this is big stuff.”
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The move came after he declined to join a joint statement from the G7 leaders calling for both sides in the conflict to de-escalate, and after he warned residents of Iran’s capital, Tehran, to evacuate in a social media post.
The French president, Emmanuel Macron, said Trump was considering the prospect of a ceasefire between Israel and Iran. US media reports suggested he requested the National Security Council be prepared in the White House situation room for his return.
Trump has called publicly for a diplomatic resolution to the escalating bombings and has threatened US military action if the conflict continues to grow.
His departure is a blow for Albanese, who had expected to hold his first face-to-face talks with the president, including covering trade issues and the US review of the Aukus nuclear submarines agreement.
After the news broke, a spokeswoman for Albanese said the departure was “understandable” given the situation in the Middle East.
“As the prime minister said a short time ago, we are very concerned about the events in the Middle East and continue to urge all parties to prioritise dialogue and diplomacy.”
But the opposition leader, Sussan Ley, said the decision showed Albanese should have done more to secure an early meeting with Trump, rather than waiting for an international summit.
“Given the deteriorating situation in the Middle East, this decision is understandable but to the detriment of Australia,” she said in a statement.
“The prime minister should have been more proactive in seeking to strengthen this relationship – Australia’s most important – and we encourage him to change his approach to advance our national interest.”
Liberal senator Dave Sharma was less diplomatic, calling the snub an “abject failure”.
On X, Sharma wrote, “this is an abject failure of Australian diplomacy” and added that while the UK has negotiated and signed a trade agreement with the US, “PM Albanese has not even managed to meet President Trump.”
Albanese is still expected to meet leaders including the UK’s Keir Starmer and the new German chancellor, Friedrich Merz, at the Kananaskis summit site, before returning to Australia on Tuesday night.
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The United Nations general assembly in September could provide the next opportunity for a meeting between Albanese and Trump. Albanese is expected to go to New York and could add a visit to the White House to the trip if an invitation is forthcoming
By then the 30-day Pentagon Aukus review, which is being led by the under secretary of defence for policy, Elbridge Colby, will be complete.
The Australian delegation had been buoyed by Trump’s comments about Aukus after his own meeting with Starmer earlier on Monday, when the president nodded in agreement that sharing of nuclear technology between the three countries represented an “important deal”.
“We’re very long-time partners and allies and friends, and we’ve become friends in a short period of time,” he said of the British PM.
News of his early departure came minutes after Albanese said he expected a positive meeting with Trump. The pair have previously spoken by phone, including about the Aukus deal.
“There are great advantages that we have,” he said. “The sum of one plus one plus one sometimes equals more than three.”
Trump had been due to hold bilateral talks with Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelensky and Mexico’s Claudia Sheinbaum before leaving Canada.
He had criticised Russia’s removal from the G8 group in 2014 and even suggested China should be invited to join the forum in future.
It is not the first time Trump has overshadowed a summit hosted in Canada. In 2018 he left a previous G7 meeting in disarray after boycotting a previously agreed leaders’ communique, deriding then prime minister Justin Trudeau as “dishonest and weak”.

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