U.S. President Donald Trump is ‘seriously considering’ a pardon for Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs as the rap mogul awaits his sentencing in a Brooklyn jail.
As the judge prepares his punishment over prostitution charges after he was acquitted on three of his most serious charges, a source told Deadline that Trump has been mulling the reprieve.
Insiders told the outlet that the idea had advanced from ‘just another Trump weave to an actionable event.’
The 55-year-old mogul was found not guilty of s£x trafficking and racketeering earlier this month, but was convicted of two counts of transportation to engage in prostitution.
Combs is set to receive his sentencing on October 3 and faces a maximum sentence of 10 years in prison.
A presidential pardon has been talked of since the beginning of Combs’ trial, and Trump even indicated in May that he was open to the idea.
The U.S. President said, when asked on the matter in the Oval Office, that ‘nobody’s asked but I know people are thinking about it.’
‘I know they’re thinking about it. I think some people have been very close to asking,’ he added.
‘First of all, I’d look at what’s happening. And I haven’t been watching it too closely, although it’s certainly getting a lot of coverage,’ Trump continued.
‘I haven’t seen him, I haven’t spoken to him in years. 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 nasty statements in the paper all of a sudden.’
‘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 it wouldn’t have any impact,’ he concluded.
Attorney John Koufos, who recently met with Trump’s pardon ‘tsar’ Alice Marie Johnson and pardon attorney Ed Martin, told the Daily Mail elements of the case fit with Trump’s push against ‘overcriminalization’ and ‘weaponization’ in charging.