With all the rumors surrounding if President Donald Trump could do the unthinkable and pardon Sean “Diddy” Combs, he just revealed why doing so could be “more difficult…” And no, it’s not at all for the reasons you think.
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Diddy, the hip-hop mogul currently awaiting sentencing on prostitution crimes, once called Trump a friend. Now, he might be Diddy’s only hope at freedom any time soon. When asked if he would pardon him, Trump told reporters in June he would “certainly look at the facts.” Now, he’s singing a much different tune.
Trump got candid during a Newsmax interview on Friday (Aug. 1). He said Diddy “was essentially, I guess, sort of half-innocent.” The president continued, “I don’t know what they do, still in jail or something. But he was celebrating a victory, but I guess it wasn’t as good of a victory.”
He continued, admitting to his past personal ties to the “Coming Home” rapper. The two have been spotted partying in the late 90s’ and early 2000s, but after Trump ran for office, Diddy had major critiques for him.
“Seeing what’s going on, White men like Trump need to be banished. That way of thinking, it’s real dangerous,” Diddy said in a 2020 interview. “This man literally threatened the lives of us and our families about going to vote. ‘Stand back and stand by,’” Diddy added. “The No. 1 priority is to get Trump out of office.”
Now, Trump said those comments against him could come back to bite. “When I ran for office, he was very hostile,” Trump said of Diddy on Friday. “It’s hard, you know? We’re human beings. And we don’t like to have things cloud our judgment, right? But when you knew someone and you were fine, and then you run for office, and he made some terrible statements,” the president continued.
“It makes it more difficult to do,” he added. The interviewer, Rob Finnerty, then asked Trump to clarify if his response meant a “no” towards a Diddy pardon. The president responded, “I would say so.”
Back in July, Diddy was acquitted of racketeering charges but found guilty of violating the Mann Act, the law criminalizing the act of transporting people across state lines for sex. As it stands now, he’s facing up to 20 years behind bars (10 years for each guilty charge). His sentencing is scheduled for October.
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