Attorney for Sean ‘Diddy' Combs confirms they've approached Trump administration about pardon

CTV News

2 days ago

Sean "Diddy" Combs arrives at the L.A. Premiere of "The Four: Battle For Stardom" at the CBS Radford Studio Center on May 30, 2018, in Los Angeles. (Willy Sanjuan/Invision/AP via CNN Newsource)
Nicole Westmoreland, a member of Sean 'Diddy' Combs' all-star defence team, told CNN in an exclusive interview on Tuesday that the music mogul's team has reached out to the Trump administration about a potential pardon following his conviction on two charges of transportation to engage in prostitution last month.
'It's my understanding that we've reached out and had conversations in reference to a pardon,' Westmoreland said.
Trump indicated that he was unlikely to pardon Combs during an interview with Newsmax last week, saying, 'I was very friendly with him, I got along with him great and he seemed like a nice guy. I didn't know him well. But when I ran for office, he was very hostile.'
Trump added that this makes pardoning Combs 'more difficult to do.'
Asked of Combs' feelings about his chances of a pardon, even after Trump's remarks, Westmoreland said this week that Combs 'is a very hopeful person, and I believe that he remains hopeful.'
When contacted by CNN, a White House official said they 'will not comment on the existence or nonexistence of any clemency request.'
Last month, a jury convicted Combs on two lesser charges of transportation to engage in prostitution and acquitted the hip-hop mogul of the most serious charges – racketeering conspiracy (referred to as RICO) and sex trafficking. Combs was facing up to life in prison. Instead, he now faces a maximum sentence of 20 years – though, he is likely to serve a shorter sentence, according to legal analysts.
Prosecutors have not formally said what sentence they're going to pursue – presentencing filings aren't due until September – but had previously indicated he could face a minimum range of 51 to 63 months (or, roughly 4 to 5 years) in prison. In a filing last week, they indicated their assessed range could end up be 'substantially higher.'
Prosecutors accused Combs of leading a criminal enterprise made up of some of his closest employees, alleging they used threats, violence, forced labor, bribery and other crimes to force Casandra 'Cassie' Ventura and another woman, 'Jane,' to engage in drug-fueled sex acts with male escorts called 'Freak Offs' or 'hotel nights.'
During the two-month trial, Combs' defence attorneys focused much of their efforts on questioning – and attempting to discredit – witnesses brought forth by the prosecution.
The prosecution presented its case over six weeks and called 34 witnesses during the federal criminal trial. Combs' defence presented a roughly 30-minute case and called zero witnesses. Combs did not testify.
Of their approach, Westmoreland said their strategy was to 'tell the truth.'
'We didn't need a creative story. We didn't need to overreach. We knew that telling the truth would mean not guilty. We knew that he had not sex trafficked anyone and we knew that RICO was absurd. So we figured, hey we'll tell the truth and that will pay off. And I believe for the most part that strategy worked.'
Westmoreland added that the case shouldn't have been brought by the government in the first place, and that their second mistake was 'allowing it to keep going.'
'The government knew that there was no way Combs committed sex trafficking or RICO and they just continued prosecuting anyway,' she said. 'I think the jury saw through it.'
'Mr. Combs was painted like a monster (by the prosecution),' Westmoreland also told CNN this week, when asked about what, if anything, Combs would like to tell the public. 'There were a lot of allegations made before trial and so I would imagine that any and everyone would want to clear their name.'
Westmoreland's role as part of Combs' defence
At trial, Westmoreland cross-examined several witnesses, including former 'Danity Kane' singer Dawn Richard and Ventura's longtime friend Bryana Bongolan, who accused Combs of dangling her over a 17-story balcony in 2016.
During a tense cross-examination of Bongolan, Westmoreland presented the jury with hotel records that showed Combs was in New York at the Trump Hotel on the date that Bongolan testified she was dangled over the balcony in Los Angeles – arguing that it was not possible for Combs to have engaged in the alleged incident.
'You agree that one person can't be in two places at the same time?' Westmoreland asked Bongolan on the stand.
Outside the presence of the jury, Judge Arun Subramanian later likened Westmoreland's cross-examination of Bongolan to a ''Perry Mason' moment,' referencing the classic network legal drama.
'It was an honor for the judge to say that,' Westmoreland said this week. 'I knew that Mr. Combs was being wrongfully accused, so to be able to bring that out, it's one of the things that I live for.'
Bongolan said during her testimony that while the details and date of the alleged incident are murky, she has 'no doubt' that the incident occurred, even if she remembered the date incorrectly.
Combs has been held in Brooklyn's Metropolitan Detention Center since his arrest in Manhattan in September 2024. The judge has denied him bail multiple times.
Combs' defence had asked the court to release him on bail on a US$50 million bond. They have argued he is not a danger to the community and is not a flight risk. Still pending is a motion asking the judge to fully acquit Combs or give him a new trial.
Other witnesses in the case, including Ventura, previously wrote letters to the judge, pleading for him to remain incarcerated, telling the court they would fear for their safety if he were released from jail ahead of his sentencing — though one former girlfriend, Gina Huynh who was initially supposed to testify against Combs, wrote a letter in his support urging the judge to release him on bail.
Combs was physically violent on numerous occasions with Ventura, and photographic and video evidence of her being assaulted was shown to the jury throughout the trial, including 2016 hotel surveillance footage of Combs beating Ventura, which was first published by CNN in May 2024. In his decision to deny Combs bail immediately after the verdict, the judge cited Combs' admitted pattern of violence in his relationships.
Combs' sentencing is currently set for Oct. 3