President Donald Trump said Sean “Diddy” Combs asked for a presidential pardon in a letter, but Trump told The New York Times he does not plan to act on the request. The comments follow Trump’s earlier public remarks in May that no one had formally asked him about clemency for Combs at that time.
President Donald Trump said Sean “Diddy” Combs requested a presidential pardon in a letter, but Trump told The New York Times he is not planning to grant clemency.
The Daily Wire, summarizing the Times interview, reported that Trump confirmed Combs “asked me for a pardon” and said he would not consider it. The report did not describe the contents of the letter.
Trump’s comments come after he was asked in May about the possibility of a pardon for Combs during an Oval Office press conference. Trump said then, in response to a question from Fox News correspondent Peter Doocy, that “nobody’s asked,” while adding that he believed people were thinking about it and that some had been “very close to asking.” Trump also said he had not been closely following the case but was aware it was drawing significant media attention.
In that May appearance, Trump described having known Combs in the past but said they had not spoken in years. He also said any clemency decision would depend on the facts of the case, and that personal feelings would not be decisive.
Combs was convicted in July on two federal counts related to transportation to engage in prostitution, according to reporting cited by The Daily Wire. The outlet also reported that Combs was acquitted of more serious charges, including sex trafficking and racketeering. Federal prosecutors sought a sentence of at least 11 years, calling Combs “unrepentant,” but he was sentenced in October to a little over four years in prison.
In the same Times interview, The Daily Wire reported, Trump also said he would not consider pardoning Nicolás Maduro, who it described as having been recently captured. Asked about a pardon for Derek Chauvin, the former Minneapolis police officer convicted in the 2020 killing of George Floyd, Trump said, “I haven’t been asked about it.”
