Will Trump pardon Diddy? Trial could end, experts say
"These are federal charges (against Combs), so that's the main limit. The matter has be federal, it has to be criminal vs. civil, and related to something that's already been done," says Kalt. "But the person doesn't have to even be charged yet, or convicted. The Supreme Court has said preemptive pardons are OK."
Typically, one of the last gestures from an outgoing president is a pardon. In President Joe Biden's final days in office, he famously pardoned his son, Hunter, convicted of federal gun felonies and federal tax charges. At the end of Trump's first term, he granted clemency to political allies such as Roger Stone, found guilty of obstructing a congressional investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election and related offenses.
But pardons can take place during a president's term, says Kalt. The right was established in Article II, Section 2, Clause 1 of the Constitution, which among other things gives the president "power to grant Reprieves and Pardons for Offenses against the United States, except in Cases of Impeachment."
Kalt says the power to pardon is derived from the British monarch's historic right and stems from a recognition that criminal law was often too harsh, and it was important to have a safety valve. "The president was the best person to be that safety valve because of his political accountability," he says.
But that's where things get murky, he adds, noting that Republican lawmakers "don't appear willing to hold the president accountable" for granting pardons, meaning they aren't costing him in terms of political capital. In contrast, President Gerald Ford's controversial pardoning of disgraced President Richard Nixon was perceived so negatively "that it probably cost Ford re-election in 1976," Kalt says.
In just over 100 days since taking office, Trump has issued pardons to a broad range of personalities. They include Todd and Julie Chrisley, stars of the reality show "Chrisley Knows Best," who were convicted in 2022 of swindling $36 million from Atlanta banks and being tax evaders, and rapper NBA YoungBoy, who in 2024 was sentenced to two years in prison for weapons possession. He also pardoned former Illinois governor Rod Blagojevich, convicted of wire fraud and extortion, and Jan. 6 participant and "Bob's Burgers" actor Jay Johnston.
The reason many presidents issue pardons at the end of their terms is precisely to avoid political fallout, says Kalt. In that sense, Trump's brash approach suggests he has no concerns about such ramifications.
"I don't agree with these pardons on their merits, but the fact that he did them when he is politically accountable as opposed to slinking out the door does add some legitimacy to them in that sense," he says. "With pardons, you don't need Congress, you wave your magic wand and it happens. You can see the appeal for a president, particularly one like Trump."
One can also see the appeal for those such as Combs, whose ordeal could end instantly should Trump's pardon "wand" wave his way.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Spectator
7 minutes ago
- Spectator
Young people are becoming increasingly authoritarian
'It has been said that democracy is the worst form of government except for all those other forms', Winston Churchill once declared in the House of Commons. Britain may not feel like much of a free country at the moment, with protestors being arrested for holding placards and the police hauling people away in the dead of night for choice social media posts. But it is still a democracy at least, and an alright one at that. It seems though that many young people do not agree. Polling this week shows that one third of 18-30 year olds are increasingly in favour of authoritarianism. They would prefer an authoritarian system led by a decisive figure, even if it meant sacrificing some democratic freedoms. Dissatisfaction can be found across the political spectrum, with 33 per cent of young Labour voters leaning towards authoritarianism, whilst it is half of the Reform voting youth. As victims of a two-year lockdown, a childhood in the murky waters of the financial crash, and facing the employment Armageddon of AI and a rising jobs tax, is it any wonder that so many young people feel this way? They have had a rum deal of it in a very broken Britain. Not only are their phones and bags increasingly at risk of being pinched, but they can hardly afford to go out, with the price of a pint in London surging to £6.75 on average, or half an hour of minimum wage work (if they can even find a job). Infantilised by a government which seeks to tax, regulate, and throttle their ambition with red-tape and bluster, many cannot even get on the housing ladder after years of working. If democracy isn't delivering, why would you even sign up to fight? One recent survey showed that 30 per cent young people wouldn't don their helmets even if Mr Putin was sending his troops to Dover. Many instead are voting with their feet and moving to to the low-tax Middle Eastern autocracies. However, the radicalisation of young people is not just about the slow immiseration of Britain, with declining living standards and crumbling infrastructure. Myriad videos now appear on people's screens of shop-lifters, bike thieves and illegal immigrants entering the country with ease. And when this immiseration culminates in a young professional having their phone swiped from their hands on their walk to the office, they are told not to worry about it as crime is going down. The lurch towards authoritarianism is not a deep-seated yearning for jack boots, five year plans, or Volkswagen Beetles. It comes from a frustration that the British state, no matter its majorities or might, cannot fix the very basics. When a young person looks down at their Instagram in their ninth hour of their wait in a dingy NHS reception room, at the spotless pavements of Dubai, or the autonomous vehicles of China, is it any wonder they yearn for a government that can actually do something? With the recent spate of headlines about civil breakdown in Britain, propelled by migrant crises, rape gangs, and a neutured government, some politicians have started to listen. Reform's approach is to appeal to this era of youthful discontent with a cabinet made up of professionals, rather than sitting politicians, as in the United States. Likewise, it wants to clear out the top-brass of the civil service to remove bureaucracy. Reform's position is more authoritarian than our current system, but it could feasibly work (if you can find civil servants who are willing to legislate themselves out of a job). Will that be enough for the growing number of authoritarian young people? For many, Britain has been broken for as long as they can remember. It does need 'restoring' as some have proposed, as that would just start the cycle of decline again. For this group, the edifice must be torn down entirely. And they are willing to give up the freedoms enjoyed by previous generations if it means the government works again. Should this happen, blame would lie squarely at the feet of the inhabitants of Whitehall and Parliament. For those in favour of classically liberal values, as well as free expression and fearless journalism, it is essential that we win over this growing minority of young people. But for our side to be victorious, we must push for government to work, urgently, before it is replaced by something rather more authoritarian.
Metro
7 minutes ago
- Metro
Could Putin be arrested in the US during Trump meeting?
Vladimir Putin is a wanted man. For over two years, the Russian leader has been the focus of an international arrest warrant for war crimes committed in Ukraine. The warrant seeks to haul the 72-year-old before a tribunal in The Hague, Netherlands, for allegedly trafficking Ukrainian children from occupied territories into Russia. Putin is arguably the most powerful target of the International Criminal Court in its 21-year history, and the most high-profile leader to be formally accused of war crimes since the Nuremberg trials of Nazi officials. Under the Rome Statute, all countries that are a part of the ICC are supposed to detain all suspects with a warrant if they set foot on their soil. Could Putin's upcoming visit to Alaska for a sit-down with President Donald Trump see him led off in handcuffs? By law, all members of the ICC are required to use arrest warrants issued by the court. But Russia, Israel, and the United States are not a part of the court, meaning they don't have to comply. We won't be seeing Putin in handcuffs after his visit to speak with Trump tomorrow, but in dozens of other countries, he could be arrested. When Putin visited Mongolia in late 2024, the country didn't comply with the arrest orders – claiming its hands were 'tied'. A government spokesperson told Politico that Mongolia is energy dependent on both its major neighbours, Russia and China, making it difficult for them to enact the arrest warrant. Afghanistan Albania Andorra Argentina Australia Austria Barbados Belgium Benin Bolivia Botswana Bulgaria Burkina Faso Cambodia Canada Cape Verde Central African Republic Chad Chile Comoros Congo, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Republic of the Cook Islands Costa Rica Croatia Dominica Dominican Republic Ecuador Finland Gambia, The Georgia Greece Grenada Guatemala Guinea Guyana Hungary Iceland Jordan Kenya Kiribati Korea, South Latvia Liberia Liechtenstein Malawi Maldives Mali Malta Mauritius Mongolia Namibia Nauru Netherlands North Macedonia Saint Lucia Saint Vincent and the Grenadines Samoa Serbia Seychelles Slovakia Spain Sweden Tanzania Timor-Leste Uganda Ukraine Uruguay Venezuela Zambia The spokesperson explained: 'Mongolia imports 95% of its petroleum products and over 20% of electricity from our immediate neighbourhood, which has previously suffered interruption for technical reasons. 'Mongolia has always maintained a policy of neutrality in all its diplomatic relations, as demonstrated in our statements of record to date.' Despite its precarious political position, Mongolia is required to act upon the ICC's warrants as a member, and there's a possibility the country could face prosecution for failing to arrest Putin. The EU, Ukraine and international organisations like Amnesty International have previously urged Mongolia to act on its ICC obligations. The US President and Russian President will sit down in the US's most northern state, which has been chosen due to its close proximity to Russia, on August 15. Addressing reporters at the White House, Trump suggested an agreement would involve some exchange of land between Ukraine and Russia. More Trending 'There'll be some swapping of territories to the betterment of both,' the Republican president said. A spokesperson for the Kremlin has confirmed the summit. In a video address to the nation posted on his Telegram channel on Saturday, Zelensky said that any decisions without Ukraine would be decisions against peace. Putin, meanwhile, is 'making huge progress militarily' in Ukraine and is able to use the meeting to secure two big objectives – demonstrating to Trump he is 'reasonable' enough to negotiate, and buying time on the battlefield. The US President may have appeared to sharpen his stance against his Russian counterpart in recent weeks, notably hitting India with punitive tariffs for buying Russia's oil. Get in touch with our news team by emailing us at webnews@ For more stories like this, check our news page. MORE: The islands where America and Russia are 2 miles and 21 hours apart MORE: Russia 'responsible for hacking highly sensitive US court records' MORE: White House reveals why Zelensky won't be at Trump's one-on-one with Putin
The Guardian
8 minutes ago
- The Guardian
The Trump administration has decided coal is female – here's why
Have you ever tossed and turned at night wondering what the correct pronouns are for a lump of coal? No, me neither. However, it seems someone at the US Department of Energy has devoted a few spare brain cells to this matter and decided that coal is a she/her. Co-opting a phrase adopted by the LGBTQ+ community, the official energy department X account tweeted on 31 July: 'She's an icon. She's a legend. And she is the moment,' alongside a sparkling picture of coal. This comes as the Trump administration devotes considerable energy to making fossil fuels great again. The president has signed numerous executive orders aimed at 'Reinvigorating America's Beautiful Clean Coal Industry' and reversed Biden-era pollution regulations on coal-fired power plants. These plants, according to a 2023 report, killed at least 460,000 Americans over the past two decades. Deaths declined when the environmental regulations that Donald Trump is so scornful of were put in place. Why is the Trump administration, which seems to think women are objects, so keen on personifying coal? Is it for poetic effect? Or are they trying to sanitise the deadly impact of coal pollution and associate it with mother nature? I suspect the second motive. Ships, for example, have traditionally been referred to as 'she', possibly because sailors saw them as a maternal protector. Countries can also be classified as female – particularly when a man thinks their violent actions need to be defended. In 2023, shortly after the 7 October attacks, at a time when Gaza was being bombed and blockaded by Israel, Keir Starmer said Israel had 'the right to defend herself'. Then again, sometimes the short answer to why things are unnecessarily gendered is simply 'lazy sexism'. For a long time, Atlantic hurricanes were given only female names. When feminists started to challenge this in the 1980s, some people argued that storms would be taken seriously only if they evoked female fury. Years after meteorologists finally changed the policy, a 1986 Washington Post editorial lamented: 'Somehow many of the male names don't convey either the romance or the urgency that circumstances might warrant.' This has been much debated and it's not clear whether gendering a storm makes any difference to public safety. As for the weird social media post gendering coal? It feels like a smokescreen to get people chattering online as the world burns. Arwa Mahdawi is a Guardian columnist Do you have an opinion on the issues raised in this article? If you would like to submit a response of up to 300 words by email to be considered for publication in our letters section, please click here.
