President Donald Trump is giving a closer look to possibly pardoning Sean “Diddy” Combs, according to a new report.
Combs, the 55-year-old rap mogul convicted of federal prostitution-related charges earlier this month, is being “seriously considered” for a presidential pardon, Deadline reported, citing a Trump administration source.
When Trump hosted the reality show “The Apprentice,” he referred to Diddy as “a good friend of mine” and a “good guy … I’m gonna stick up for him.”
Asked if he was considering a pardon for Diddy earlier this month, Trump said he wasn’t paying close attention to Combs’ case.
“I’d look at what’s happening, and I haven’t been watching too closely. We all know it’s certainly getting a lot of coverage,” Trump said.
The president claimed their friendship ended when Trump entered the political arena.
“I haven’t seen him, I haven’t spoken to him in years. He used to really like him a lot. I think when I ran for politics … that relationship busted up, from what I read,” Trump said. “He didn’t tell me that. But I’d read little nasty statements in the paper all of a sudden.”
But Trump said he would not let the animosity get in the way of clemency if the facts of the case support it.
“I would certainly look at the facts. If I think that somebody was mistreated, whether they like me or don’t like me, it wouldn’t have any impact on me,” he said.
Other “insiders” told Deadline the conversation of a Combs pardon has intensified from “just another Trump weave to an actionable event” after Diddy’s conviction.
Trump’s use of the pardon power has come under scrutiny in several instances, such as when he exercised it for Jan. 6 defendants and for an executive convicted of a multi-million-dollar tax fraud after his mother attended a $1 million fundraiser at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate.
Besides the possibility of a Diddy pardon, Trump is also being scrutinized for a potential pardon for Ghislaine Maxwell, who helped late disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein sexually abuse underaged girls.
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