Donald Trump said Sean “Diddy” Combs reached out for a presidential pardon — but it doesn’t sound like he’s getting one anytime soon.
“A lot of people have asked me for pardons,” Trump said in the Oval Office on Monday. “I call him ‘Puff Daddy.’ He has asked me for a pardon.”
Questions have circulated for months over whether the president would be willing to use his presidential powers to pardon Combs following the disgraced music mogul’s federal sex crimes trial. On Friday, Combs was sentenced to four years and two months in prison after being found guilty on two counts of transportation to engage in prostitution. Trump did not give a firm answer on whether a pardon is coming, though he hinted back in August that the answer was probably a no.
“You had the power and the resources to keep it going, and because you weren’t caught,” Judge Arun Subramanian told the rapper Friday at his sentencing hearing. “You paid for and organized these acts. You were no John. You were responsible for that, even if your currency was sexual desires and not money.”
Combs’ sentence could have been worse with the prosecution asking for 11 years behind bars. His defense team asked for 14 months with credit for time served. The two prostitution convictions carried a maximum sentence of 10 years each.
Monday didn’t mark the first time Trump had spoken on the topic. Back in August, the president was asked in a Newsmax interview if he would consider pardoning the music mogul ahead of his sentencing. Trump spoke to their personal relationship fraying as one reason he was on the fence.
“You know, I was very friendly with him,” Trump said at the time. “I get along with him great, and he seemed like a nice guy. I didn’t know him well. But when I ran for office, he was very hostile.”
“He said some not-so-nice things about you, sir,” Newsmax host Rob Finnerty said.
“It’s hard, you know? Like you, we’re human beings, and 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. Makes it more — I’m being honest — it makes it more difficult to do.”
“But more likely a no for Combs, it sounds like?” Finnerty asked.
“I would say so,” Trump said.
In the Oval Office on Monday, Trump was also asked about another high-profile figure people have questioned if he would pardon — Ghislaine Maxwell. While the Supreme Court rejected hearing the Jeffrey Epstein associate’s appeal on Monday, the president didn’t fully shut the book on that conversation.
“You know, I haven’t heard the name in so long. I can say this, that I’d have to take a look at it. I would have to take a look.” Trump then asked about the Supreme Court ruling.
“I will speak to the DOJ,” he said. “I wouldn’t consider it or not consider it. I don’t know anything about it, so, but I will speak to the DOJ.”
