A lawyer for Sean “Diddy” Combs protested the rising tide of secrecy at the hip-hop icon’s federal sex trafficking and racketeering trial on Thursday after Combs and the public were excluded from arguments over whether another famous rapper's name could be disclosed.

Combs, 55, was arrested in September and charged with sex trafficking, racketeering and transportation to engage in prostitution.

A defense lawyer for hip-hop entrepreneur Sean “Diddy” Combs had his ex-girlfriend read aloud a slew of loving text messages she’d sent him over the past few years until she broke down in tears Wedne...