Donald Trump confirmed that Sean “Diddy” Combs requested a presidential pardon from the U.S. president in connection with his recent federal criminal conviction.
The disgraced music mogul was sentenced last week to more than four years in prison after being convicted on two counts of transportation to engage in prostitution.
Speaking with CNN’s Kaitlan Collins on Monday, October 6, Trump was asked about the possibility of pardoning Ghislaine Maxwell, Jeffrey Epstein’s former girlfriend.
In his response, the 47th President revealed, “A lot of people have asked me for pardons,” adding that Combs, 55, was among those who had made a request.
Trump’s confirmation comes two months after a member of Combs’ legal team first disclosed that discussions with his administration camp had taken place.
Nicole Westmoreland, an attorney representing the Bad Boy Records founder, told the news outlet at the time, “It’s my understanding that we’ve reached out and had conversations in reference to a pardon.”
However, the chances of the controversial music executive receiving clemency appear slim, largely due to his previously “very hostile” attitude toward Trump.
The 79-year-old politician recalled previously that while he and Combs had once shared a friendly rapport, things changed when he ran for office in 2020.
During an August 1 interview with the Newsmax’s Rob Finnerty, Trump acknowledged the difficulty of separating personal feelings from presidential decisions.
“It’s hard, we’re human beings,” he said. “We don’t like to have things cloud our judgment, right? But when you knew someone and you were fine, and then you run for office and he made some terrible statements so I don’t know. It’s more difficult.”
For the unversed, Judge Arun Subramanian handed down the 50-month sentence on Friday, October 3, a punishment that landed between what prosecutors and Combs’ defense team had been fighting for, TMZ confirmed.
After nearly two-month the federal trial ended with the former American rapper being convicted on two counts of transportation to engage in prostitution but was acquitted of more severe charges, including racketeering conspiracy and sex trafficking by force, fraud, or coercion.
