Diddy asks President Trump for pardon, president speaks out
President Donald Trump told reporters in the Oval Office that he has asked for a pardon for Sean “Diddy” Combs, who was convicted of federal sex crimes.
Sean “Diddy” Combs won’t be released anytime soon, at least according to the White House.
On Monday, October 20, media outlets surfaced speculation that the embattled music mogul, who was sentenced to 50 months in prison earlier this month following a sex crimes trial, would have his sentence commuted or commuted by President Donald Trump. The president previously acknowledged that Combs and his team had been in contact seeking a presidential pardon.
TMZ reported that a “senior White House official” confirmed that President Trump was considering commuting his sentence, adding that the president “could release Diddy as early as this week.”
However, in a statement to USA TODAY on Tuesday, October 21, the White House press secretary said there is “zero truth” to the claims in the TMZ article. “The final arbiter of pardons and reductions is the president, not anonymous sources,” the official added.
Combs was arrested in September 2024 on charges of sex trafficking, extortion, and transportation for the purpose of prostitution, but on July 2, he was acquitted of the most serious charges and received a split verdict of guilty on two counts of prostitution.
Three months later, on October 3, the sober Combs learned in court that he would be jailed for nearly four years. It has not been determined which federal detention center Mr. Combs will be transferred to, but he has been held at the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn since his arrest.
The Bad Boy Records founder could be released within three years with credit for time already spent in custody.
On Monday, Combs’ attorneys filed a notice of appeal in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, according to documents obtained by USA TODAY. Details of the rapper’s appeal will be submitted to the court at a later date.
What does President Trump say about Diddy’s prison sentence?
On October 6, three days after Combs’ sentencing, President Trump told reporters in the Oval Office that the Grammy-winning rapper had applied for clemency.
“A lot of people have asked me for a pardon,” Trump said at the time. “I call him Puff Daddy. He asked me for forgiveness.”
This wasn’t the first time Trump addressed his stance on music moguls. In an interview with host Rob Finnerty that aired on Newsmax on August 1, President Trump discussed the possibility of a presidential pardon for Combs.
After saying he would “probably” consider pardoning Combs, Trump paused to tell Finnerty, “I was very friendly with him. We got along very well. (He) seemed like a nice guy. I didn’t know him well, but when I ran for president, he was very hostile.”
The Newsmax host then pointed out that Combs had “said some not-so-nice things” about the president.
“Yes, that’s difficult. You know, like you, we’re human and we don’t like things to cloud our judgment, right?” Trump said. “But when you know someone and you’re okay, and then you run for office, and that person says some horrible things… so I don’t know… it makes it more difficult.”
Contributor: KiMi Robinson and Bart Jansen, USA TODAY
