EXCLUSIVE: Donald Trump is closely weighing giving Sean “Diddy” Combs a full presidential pardon forward of the convicted Dangerous Boy Data founder’s sentencing later this yr.
Practically two months after Trump publicly entertained the notion of a Diddy pardon in an Oval Workplace gaggle, a complete get out of jail card for Combs is being “severely thought-about,” an administration supply tells Deadline.
Moreover, as a number of associates of the much-accused and presently incarcerated “All In regards to the Benjamins” performer have been pitching the White Home, different insiders verify the subject has leveled up from “simply one other Trump weave to an actionable occasion” since Combs was discovered partially responsible within the his NYC sex-trafficking trial earlier this month. In fact, as various events attest, this being the curler coaster of Trumpworld, any resolution on a Combs pardon is in flux till POTUS truly places his signature on paper.
Repeatedly denied a $50 million bond and launch from Brooklyn’s Metropolitan Detention Heart since his arrest final September, Combs may find yourself spending two to 3 years in a federal jail upon his sentencing on October 3 by Choose Arun Subramanian. Any sentence definitely would come with time already served by Combs. Even with that, and the feds in search of the utmost underneath sentencing pointers, an attraction is broadly anticipated to be launched by the 10-attorney-deep protection virtually instantly after sentencing happens.
Contacted by Deadline, Combs’ protection group led by Marc Agnifilo and Teny Gerago had “no remark” on any pardon discuss for his or her consumer. Whereas various people near Combs each personally and professionally have been very energetic in in search of White Home recourse for the Grammy winner, the protection group itself has had no vital participation within the course of, I hear. Up on 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, the reply was that “the White Home is not going to touch upon the existence or nonexistence of any clemency request,” based on an administration official.
With a damning verdict for the U.S. Lawyer’s workplace for the Southern District of New York delivered by a federal jury on July 2 after an eight-week sex-trafficking trial, Combs escaped probably the most extreme of the prison prices he was going through. Even earlier than the blended verdict got here in, Trump exclaimed on Could 30 that when it got here to a Diddy pardon, he “will surely take a look at the information if I feel anyone was mistreated, whether or not they like me or don’t like me.”
As soon as huge on Trump, Combs turned fairly essential of him in the course of the Republican’s first time period and endorsed Joe Boden in 2020. Earlier than that, Trump and Combs had recognized one another for many years, with the previous bluntly calling the latter a “good pal” in 2012.
From left: Cassie Ventura, Sean Combs, Donald Trump and Melania Trump in 2008 (Getty Pictures)
Joe Schildhorn/Patrick McMullan by way of Getty Pictures
Quickly after hitting stardom, the often-ostentatious Combs was a daily on the Nineties and 2000s Manhattan occasion and charity circuit and infrequently got here into contact with Trump, who moved in comparable circles. Within the Season 12 premiere of The Apprentice, Trump instructed a reticent ex-Danity Kane singer Aubrey O’Day that he thought her former boss was “a great man, I’m going to stay up for him.” Asserting in Could of this yr that “nobody has requested” for a pardon for Combs, Trump added, “I do know individuals are desirous about it” because the Could 12-starting trial went on.
Leaping into the fray after weeks of trolling Combs, Curtis “50 Cent” Jackson vowed to cease any pardon. “I’m gonna attain out so he is aware of how I really feel about this man,” the Trump-friendly rap star Could 31 posted on social media.
Weeks later, after listening to harrowing testimony of drug-fueled “freak off” intercourse periods and violence from ex-girlfriends “Jane” and a really pregnant Cassie Ventura, in addition to ex-staffers, male escorts and legislation enforcement, the jury of 4 ladies and eight males solely convicted Combs on the fees of transportation to interact in prostitution. Avoiding a probable life sentence, the 55-year-old Combs was declared not responsible in early July of intercourse trafficking and racketeering conspiracy. The outcome laid naked the clear overreach and shortcomings of the Maurene Comey-led prosecutors’ authorized technique, in addition to the facility of movie star in American justice.
This week, Combs’ protection attorneys once more requested that their consumer be let loose of his confinement. But once more, a suggestion of a $50 million bond was placed on the desk, as have been restrictions on Combs’ journey and who he interacts with. Earlier this month, Choose Subramanian gave the prosecution and the protection a July 30 deadline to place collectively an in depth package deal on letting Combs out for the roughly 60 days earlier than sentencing. It appears to be like like that proposal is not going to be a joint proposal from the events, although extra paperwork from the protection would possibly present up within the docket within the subsequent 24 hours.
Oval Workplace consideration of a Combs pardon has grown in latest days, I’m instructed by a number of sources. The elevated curiosity additionally comes because the distraction-politics-advocating POTUS faces an rebellion by his MAGA base over the continued reluctance on the a part of the Division of Justice to make public promised information on now-dead intercourse offender and former Trump pal Jeffrey Epstein. Trump has even turned on enduring ally Rupert Murdoch with a $10 billion lawsuit after the Fox Information proprietor’s Wall Avenue Journal printed a bit on July 18 on the president and Epstein’s friendship. The well-connected millionaire was indicted in 2019 on intercourse trafficking prices and extra involving underage ladies. As a degree of rivalry for some who disbelieve the official suicide conclusion, Epstein died all of a sudden in custody in New York earlier than his trial may start.
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Not lengthy after the Combs’ verdict was introduced and because 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. Lawyer. In a July 18 assertion on her exit, ex-Epstein prosecutor Comey by no means talked about Trump by identify, however left little question who she was referring to when she mentioned: “Concern is the instrument of a tyrant, wielded to suppress unbiased thought.”
