Everyone knows Donald Trump changes his mind on a dime, but its looks like Sean Diddy Combs will not be receiving a pardon from his old buddy after all.
In a wide-ranging sit-down with the New York Times, who kept leaked news of the administration’s New Year’s plan to snatch Venezuela’s Nicolas Maduro under wraps, the former Apprentice host spilled that the much accused and incarcerated Making the Band mentor reached out in writing seeking clemency.
Trump said Combs “asked me for a pardon …through a letter.”
Asked in the Oval Office interview about the timing of the correspondence from the ‘All About the Benjamins’ performer, who was sentence on October 3 to four years behind bars and $500,000 in fines off his July 2 conviction on two counts of transportation to engage in prostitution, Trump quipped “Oh, would you like to see that letter?”
Typically, Trump did not actually show the letter to the NYT reporters, but did tell them he was not considering a pardon for Combs, according to the Gray Lady. Not that this was the first time Trump brought up his party pal wanting his help. During a wide-ranging and freewheeling October 6 press conference, Trump proclaimed: “I call him Puff Daddy. He has asked me for a pardon.”
A few weeks later, Trump had significantly cooled to granting Combs the break he sought. “It was always going to be a long shot if he would grant the pardon or not,” a person close to events told Deadline.
Today, Diddy’s team had no comment on Trump’s letter revelation and the status of any pardon when contacted by Deadline.
(L-R) Sean Combs, Donald Trump & Melania Trump on Feb. 6, 2008 in NYC (Photo: Getty)
Photo by JOE SCHILDHORN/Patrick McMullan via Getty Images
Even before the summer verdict on Combs’ “freak-offs” fueled and abuse filled trial, which saw the Bad Boys Records founder acquitted on the hardcore sex-trafficking and racketeer charges, a pardon was both hoped for and a possibility from the fickle POTUS. Certainly the fact that the lead prosecutor on Diddy’s case was Maurene Comey, the now fired daughter of Trump foe and ex-FBI Director James Comey, played into Trump’s grievance and persecution mentality.
As Deadline exclusively reported back in late July, Trump has been “seriously considering” a presidential pass for Combs. Then citing criticism from Diddy during his first term, Trump walked back the idea of giving the “half-innocent” Combs, as the convicted felon Chief Executive called him, a pardon. Attorneys for Trump confirmed they had attempted to gain the White House’s favor for their domestic violence admitting client too.
Still, despite outcry from the likes of Megyn Kelly and outrage from Combs’ enemy and Sean Combs: Th Reckoning EP Curtis “50 Cent” Jackson, Trump never totally dropped the notion of a pardon for Puffy, as multiple sources told me. However, in the chaos of Trump 2.0, the deal was never sealed, so to speak.
As it stands, with a fast tracked appeal on the runway for this spring, Diddy is now set to be released from the low-security Fort Dix in New Jersey on May 25, 2028.
Unless Democrats sweep the midterms and impeached him, as Trump recently predicted, the one-time NYC real estate developer will still be in office when Combs gets out of the joint — maybe he’ll invite him over to the new ballroom.