President Trump on Friday said he’d “look at the facts” amid suggestions that he could pardon Sean “Diddy” Combs if the rapper is convicted in his ongoing federal sex trafficking and racketeering trial.
“First of all, I’d look at what’s happening. And I haven’t been watching it too closely,” Trump said when asked whether he’d consider a pardon. He said he hasn’t spoken to Combs “in years” and noted that “nobody’s asked” for the clemency.
“He used to really like me a lot, but I think when I ran for politics, he sort of- that relationship busted up, from what I read, I don’t know. He didn’t tell me that, but I’d read some little bit nasty statements in the paper all of a sudden,” Trump said.
“So, I don’t know. I would certainly look at the facts. If I think somebody was mistreated, whether they like me or don’t like me wouldn’t have any impact,” he added, signaling potential openness to the move.
Fox News’s Peter Doocy had pointed out that Trump once referred to Combs as a good friend in an episode of “The Apprentice.”
Combs pleaded not guilty last year to charges of racketeering conspiracy and sex trafficking. A federal indictment depicted Combs as leading an expansive criminal enterprise to engage in, among other crimes, “sex trafficking, forced labor, kidnapping, arson, bribery and obstruction of justice.”
Suge Knight, the former CEO of Death Row Records, suggested earlier this month that Trump could pardon the rapper.
Trump issued hundreds of pardons on his first day back in the Oval Office earlier this year, forgiving nearly all Jan. 6 defendants. In addition, he has pardoned more than three dozen other people in the first four months of his second term, compared to 80 pardons sent out by Biden across his four-year tenure.
Trump made headlines with his pardons in recent days, including that of reality TV stars Todd and Julie Chrisley, who were convicted on bank fraud and tax evasion charges.
