Trump says he won't pardon Sean Combs because "when I ran for office, he was very hostile"

[Miles Archer]

The hip-hop titan was recently acquitted of racketeering conspiracy and sex trafficking at his federal trial but was convicted on two counts of transportation to engage in prostitution. It’s against this backdrop that there’s been considerable speculation of late about whether Combs might receive a presidential pardon. With this in mind, NBC News reported:

Trump said during tonight’s [Friday’s] Newsmax interview that he was unlikely to pardon Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs, saying that the musician who was convicted on two counts during his federal sexual abuse trial was ‘very hostile’ during Trump’s presidential campaign. ‘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 said during the interview.

Asked if he was probably a “no” on pardoning Combs, the Republican president replied: “I would say so, yeah.”

As the interview progressed, Trump focused not on the case, the allegations or the factual details, but rather on his personal feelings about his own ego.

https://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow-show/maddowblog/asked-possible-pardon-sean-diddy-combs-trump-says-quiet-part-loud-rcna222970

[mucifer]

1. Yup, it's all about trump. If combs has money left and can bribe trump he will get pardoned.

Last edited Sun Oct 5, 2025, 02:06 PM - Edit history (1)

The "supreme court" says it's cool. So it's all good

[Chasstev365]

2. "Sure I'd pardon Charlie Manson. Charlie said I was right about everything."

Last edited Sun Oct 5, 2025, 03:20 PM - Edit history (1)

This is who we're dealing with.

[LetMyPeopleVote]

3. MaddowBlog-Asked about a possible pardon for Sean 'Diddy' Combs, Trump says the quiet part loud

Does the president base his pardon decisions on whether criminals are aligned with him personally? It was weird to see him effectively concede the point.

Asked about a possible pardon for Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs, Trump says the quiet part loud www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddo...

— @jimrissmiller.bsky.social 2025-10-03T21:40:14.779Z

https://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow-show/maddowblog/asked-possible-pardon-sean-diddy-combs-trump-says-quiet-part-loud-rcna222970

The hip-hop titan was recently acquitted of racketeering conspiracy and sex trafficking at his federal trial but was convicted on two counts of transportation to engage in prostitution. It’s against this backdrop that there’s been considerable speculation of late about whether Combs might receive a presidential pardon. With this in mind, NBC News reported:

Trump said during tonight’s [Friday’s] Newsmax interview that he was unlikely to pardon Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs, saying that the musician who was convicted on two counts during his federal sexual abuse trial was ‘very hostile’ during Trump’s presidential campaign. ‘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 said during the interview.

....As the interview progressed, Trump focused not on the case, the allegations or the factual details, but rather on his personal feelings about his own ego..

“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,” Trump told Newsmax. “So I don’t know, it’s more difficult. It makes it more — I’m being honest, it makes it more difficult to do.”

Trump on pardoning Diddy: "Probably -- hmm. You know, I was very friendly with him. I get along with him great. Seemed like a nice guy. I didn't know him well. But when I ran for office, he was very hostile."

— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar.com) 2025-08-02T00:14:14.179Z

.....To recap, over the course of a single interview, the president said a pardon for Combs probably won’t happen because the entertainment mogul was “hostile” during his campaign for president, while a pardon for Santos is on the table because the disgraced former congressman “was 100% for Trump” and a “solid” partisan vote for the White House.

Trump’s critics have long argued that the president is basing his pardon decisions on whether convicted criminals are aligned with him personally, and this was a rare instance in which Trump all but admitted to a national television audience that his critics are correct......

The president seems eager to act with impunity, confident in the knowledge that a Republican-led Congress will shrug its shoulders with indifference; Republican-appointed Supreme Court justices have already said Trump’s office effectively puts him above the law; evidence of corruption doesn’t seem to have an appreciable impact on his approval rating; and news organizations have to divide their coverage between this and a wide variety of other presidential abuses.

The result is a dynamic in which Trump is effectively declaring, “I’m handing out pardons like party favors to my political allies, because they’re my political allies, and there’s nothing you can do about it.”

[Ocelot II]

4. Trump's pardons are based entirely on the applicant's attitude toward

or statements about Trump. No matter what kind of heinous crimes they were convicted of, they get a pardon if they like Trump (case on point, the J6 insurrectionists). If they didn't like Trump or ever spoke against him, they get no pardon or commutation even if the applicant meets all the usual guidelines - evidence of rehabilitation, good conduct, etc. J6 defendants excepted (they were fighting for him, after all), he seems particularly inclined to pardon crimes involving fraud or other financial misconduct, reflecting that he doesn't seem to consider that sort of crime to deserve punishment - for obvious reasons. The lesson is that if you're considering committing a crime, particularly one involving money, first be sure to post plenty of comments on social media raving about the glory and greatness of Trump.

[mopinko]

8. ppl who commit that kind of crimes can afford to buy a pardon.

which is exactly what’s happening.

[Irish_Dem]

5. It's always about Trump always.

Never about what’s good for the public.

[RockRaven]

6. A small, accidental upside to his personal corruption.

Sean Combs definitely deserves some prison time for what he has done.

[marble falls]

7. Puffy still got something TACO would like: there's piles of Puffy's money somewhere. ...

... just imagine the relaunching of the career of the new gangster gangster Puffy.

[no_hypocrisy]

9. Oh really?

Trump Now “Seriously Considering” Pardon For Sean Combs Ahead Of Sentencing; White House Officially Says Nothing July 29, 2025 6:34pm

EXCLUSIVE: Donald Trump is heavily weighing giving Sean “Diddy” Combs a full presidential pardon ahead of the convicted Bad Boy Records founder’s sentencing later this year.

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.

-snip-

Once big on Trump, Combs became quite critical of him during the Republican’s first term and endorsed Joe Biden 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.

https://deadline.com/2025/07/combs-pardon-trump-seriously-considering-1236468313/

[BlueTsunami2018]

10. I'll bet a couple million dollar bribe would change that tune.

You can very easily buy off that bastard.