Trump Now 'Seriously Considering' Pardon For Sean Combs Ahead Of Sentencing; White House Officially Says Nothing
Nearly two months after Trump publicly entertained the notion of a Diddy pardon in an Oval Office gaggle, a comprehensive get out of jail card for Combs is being 'seriously considered,' an administration source tells Deadline.
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Additionally, as several associates of the much-accused and currently incarcerated 'All About the Benjamins' performer have been pitching the White House, other insiders confirm the topic has leveled up from 'just another Trump weave to an actionable event' since Combs was found partially guilty in the his NYC sex-trafficking trial earlier this month. Of course, as a number of parties attest, this being the roller coaster of Trumpworld, any decision on a Combs pardon is in flux until POTUS actually puts his signature on paper.
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Repeatedly denied a $50 million bond and release from Brooklyn's Metropolitan Detention Center since his arrest last September, Combs could end up spending two to three years in a federal prison upon his sentencing on October 3 by Judge Arun Subramanian. Any sentence certainly would include time already served by Combs. Even with that, and the feds seeking the maximum under sentencing guidelines, an appeal is widely expected to be launched by the 10-attorney-deep defense almost immediately after sentencing occurs.
Contacted by Deadline, Combs' defense team led by Marc Agnifilo and Teny Gerago had 'no comment' on any pardon talk for their client. While a number of individuals close to Combs both personally and professionally have been very active in seeking White House recourse for the Grammy winner, the defense team itself has had no significant participation in the process, I hear. Up on 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, the reply was that 'the White House will not comment on the existence or nonexistence of any clemency request,' according to an administration official.
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With a damning verdict for the U.S. Attorney's office for the Southern District of New York delivered by a federal jury on July 2 after an eight-week sex-trafficking trial, Combs escaped the most severe of the criminal charges he was facing. Even before the mixed verdict came in, Trump exclaimed on May 30 that when it came to a Diddy pardon, he 'would certainly look at the facts if I think somebody was mistreated, whether they like me or don't like me.'
Once big on Trump, Combs became quite critical of him during the Republican's first term and endorsed Joe Boden in 2020. Before that, Trump and Combs had known each other for decades, with the former bluntly calling the latter a 'good friend' in 2012.
Soon after hitting stardom, the often-ostentatious Combs was a regular on the 1990s and 2000s Manhattan party and charity circuit and often came into contact with Trump, who moved in similar circles. In the Season 12 premiere of The Apprentice, Trump told a reticent ex-Danity Kane singer Aubrey O'Day that he thought her former boss was 'a good guy, I'm going to stick up for him.' Asserting in May of this year that 'no one has asked' for a pardon for Combs, Trump added, 'I know people are thinking about it' as the May 12-starting trial went on.
Jumping into the fray after weeks of trolling Combs, Curtis '50 Cent' Jackson vowed to stop any pardon. 'I'm gonna reach out so he knows how I feel about this guy,' the Trump-friendly rap star May 31 posted on social media.
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Weeks later, after hearing harrowing testimony of drug-fueled 'freak off' sex sessions and violence from ex-girlfriends 'Jane' and a very pregnant Cassie Ventura, as well as ex-staffers, male escorts and law enforcement, the jury of four women and eight men only convicted Combs on the charges of transportation to engage in prostitution. Avoiding a likely life sentence, the 55-year-old Combs was declared not guilty in early July of sex trafficking and racketeering conspiracy. The result laid bare the clear overreach and shortcomings of the Maurene Comey-led prosecutors' legal strategy, as well as the power of celebrity in American justice.
This week, Combs' defense lawyers again requested that their client be let out of his confinement. Yet again, an offer of a $50 million bond was put on the table, as were restrictions on Combs' travel and who he interacts with. Earlier this month, Judge Subramanian gave the prosecution and the defense a July 30 deadline to put together a detailed package on letting Combs out for the roughly 60 days before sentencing. It looks like that proposal will not be a joint proposal from the parties, though more documents from the defense might show up in the docket in the next 24 hours.
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Oval Office consideration of a Combs pardon has grown in recent days, I'm told by multiple sources. The increased interest also comes as the distraction-politics-advocating POTUS faces an uprising by his MAGA base over the continued reluctance on the part of the Department of Justice to make public promised files on now-dead sex offender and former Trump pal Jeffrey Epstein. Trump has even turned on enduring ally Rupert Murdoch with a $10 billion lawsuit after the Fox News owner's Wall Street Journal published a piece on July 18 on the president and Epstein's friendship. The well-connected millionaire was indicted in 2019 on sex trafficking charges and more involving underage women. As a point of contention for some who disbelieve the official suicide conclusion, Epstein died suddenly in custody in New York before his trial could begin.
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Not long after the Combs' verdict was announced and as the Epstein flip fallout exploded, lead prosecutor Comey — daughter of ex-FBI director and Trump foe James Comey — was brusquely fired from the SDNY after years of service as an Assistant U.S. Attorney. In a July 18 statement on her exit, ex-Epstein prosecutor Comey never mentioned Trump by name, but left no doubt who she was referring to when she said: 'Fear is the tool of a tyrant, wielded to suppress independent thought.'
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