Attorney for Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs has approached Trump administration for pardon: report
Attorneys for Sean “Diddy” Combs have reached out to the Trump administration about the possibility of a pardon.
Nicole Westmoreland, a member of the convicted music mogul’s defense team, told CNN Tuesday that “conversations” had taken place with officials about the possibility of clemency.
Last month, a jury convicted Combs on two lesser charges of transportation to engage in prostitution. He was acquitted of the more serious charges of racketeering conspiracy and sex trafficking.
“It’s my understanding that we’ve reached out and had conversations in reference to a pardon,” Westmoreland told CNN.
When asked previously, the president has seemed to consider that a pardon for the rapper may well be possible, though he noted during the trial that no one had asked him for that.
But in a Friday interview Trump also recalled previous previous remarks made by Combs, when he called for the president to be “banished” in 2020, and, following his defeat to Joe Biden that “the number one priority is to get Trump out of office.”
“When I ran for office, he was very hostile,” Trump said in the interview. “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.
“So I don’t know … It makes it more difficult to do.”
He added that Combs was “essentially, I guess, sort of half-innocent… He was celebrating a victory, but I guess it wasn’t as good of a victory.”
Combs had been facing up to life in prison if convicted on the most serious charges, but now faces a maximum sentence of up to 20 years.
Prosecutors have not said what sentence they will pursue, though previously indicated Combs could face a minimum range of 51 to 63 months in prison and a recent filing indicated the sentence could be “substantially higher.”
Asked about Combs’ feelings over his chances of a pardon, Westmoreland told CNN that the mogul “is a very hopeful person and I believe that he remains hopeful.”
The Independent has reached out to the White House about the possibility of a presidential pardon for Combs.
