President Donald Trump stated that Sean “Diddy” Combs has asked him for a pardon, bringing up his name while fielding questions from reporters in the Oval Office about Ghislaine Maxwell.
After one reporter asked why Maxwell would be a candidate for clemency, Trump responded, “I don’t know. I’d have to speak to the [Department of Justice]. I’ll look at it. I have a lot of people who have asked me for pardons. I call him Puff Daddy, [he] has asked me for a pardon.
In the past, Trump has been questioned about whether or not he would grant a pardon to Combs, who was sentenced last week to four years and two months in federal prison on transportation for prostitution charges.
“He was essentially I guess sort of half-innocent,” he told Newsmax in August. “I was very friendly with him. I get along with him great, and seemed like a nice guy, I didn’t know him well. But when I ran for office, he was very hostile. And it’s hard. Like you, we’re human beings and we don’t like to have things cloud our judgment. But when you knew someone and you were fine, and then you run for office and he made some terrible statements… I don’t know. I’m being honest, it makes it more difficult to do.
“But more likely a no for Combs?” the reporter responded. “I’d say so,” said Trump.
Variety spoke with Combs’ lead defense attorney Marc Agnifilo that same month and asked if counsel had been in touch with the administration. “I am not involved in that in the least,” said Agnifilo. “I have literally no idea. There are times I think there’s nothing to it, and there are times I think it’s just rumor mill stuff. But, I do not purport to know the president’s mind. I really don’t know.”
Earlier today, Combs’ attorneys filed a request to Judge Aran Subramanian that he serve his sentence at New Jersey’s Fort Dix so that he can best “address drug abuse issues and to maximize family visitation and rehabilitative efforts.”
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