Amid US President Donald Trump pardoning a slew of high-profile and controversial figures in contentious spotlight, he has now considered the possibility of letting Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs off the hook as well. In a shocking reveal on Friday, the Republican leader weighed in on rumours of the hip-hop mogul’s allies urging for a pardon. With the Bad Boy Records founder’s sex trafficking trial ongoing in Manhattan, the 78-year-old political leader said that dismissed claims of the noise surrounding his case.
Donald Trump on Diddy pardon rumours
“Nobody’s asked. But I know people are thinking about it,” he said during an Oval Office press conference. “I know they’re thinking about it. I think some people have been very close to asking.” Without directly bowing to the suggestions, Trump said that he would direct his focus towards what’s happening. “I haven’t been watching it too closely, although it’s certainly getting a lot of coverage,” he continued.
Decades-old snaps have pictured Donald Trump and Diddy sharing the same space at several prestigious and high-profile events over the years. According to Fox News, they even shared a private box along with their wives, Melania Trump and Kim Porter, at the 1997 US Open. As for where he stands on his ties with the rapper accused of racketeering conspiracy, sex trafficking, and other charges, Trump said that he hadn’t crossed paths with him in years.
Diddy-Trump’s broken relationship
“I haven’t seen him, I haven’t spoken to him in years. He used to really like me a lot, but I think when I ran for politics… that relationship busted up, from that I read. I don’t know — he didn’t tell me that, but I’d read some little bit nasty statements,” the POTUS said at a White House event celebrating Elon Musk.
Trump reiterated that he would be looking “at the facts,” while finalising his decision about a potential Diddy pardon. “If I think somebody was mistreated, whether they like me or don’t like me, it wouldn’t have any impact on me.”
Given the current track record, Donald Trump has maintained that he was mistreated by the legal system over the past the four years. As a result, he has granted seemingly endless list of pardons since coming back to power in January. On Wednesday alone, he handed out 17 pardons and nine commutations. This major decision has also saved reality TV star Todd and Julie Chrisley from their years-long pending federal prison sentence despite being previously being convicted of tax evasion and bank fraud.
Suge Knight, longtime Diddy rival, previously claimed Trump would pardon him
Diddy has pleaded not guilty to five felony counts. If convicted on all, he could face life in prison. Although Trump asserted that no one had asked him about a potential pardon granting the accused rapper immunity in the case, former Death Row Records CEO Suge Knight suggested earlier this month that the president could greenlight the controversial decision.
“I still feel that Puffy’s gonna be all right and have a fair shot at it, because Puffy didn’t — he’s not a dummy,” he told NewsNation’s Chris Cuomo. Knight insisted that somebody would talk to the jurors and end up convincing one or two of them. The record executive who is serving a 28-year prison sentence for voluntary manslaughter added that as Combs appears to have “some favours with the government,” he will eventually get a “little leeway.”
Name-dropping the US president, he went on to say, “It might not seem like it when it’s all said and done, but I don’t think he had nothing to worry about. I don’t think he’s worried, because he’s going to be federal. And if he gets convicted, Trump’s going to pardon him.”