Donald Trump weighed in again on rumors of a possible presidential pardon for Sean Combs, the hip-hop mogul convicted last month on two counts of transportation to engage in prostitution, calling him “half-innocent” but agreeing with a host who asked if it was “more likely a no.”
Combs was found not guilty on July 2 of more serious sex trafficking and racketeering conspiracy charges. Yet each of the two prostitution counts could technically land him in prison for up to 10 years when the mogul is scheduled to be sentenced on Oct. 3. (Legal experts, however, tell Rolling Stone they expect him to get much less.)
“Well, he was essentially, I guess, sort of half-innocent,” Trump told Newsmax host Rob Finnerty Friday night. “[He’s] still in jail or something, but he was celebrating a victory. But I guess it wasn’t as good of a victory.”
Trump and Combs have had an up-and-down relationship in the decades since they first met in the 1990s. Over the years, the real-estate magnate has been spotted at a number of Combs’ VIP parties and events in New York City, including the Bad Boy founder’s blowout birthday bashes. Trump called Combs “a good friend” during a 2012 episode of The Apprentice, while Combs called Trump “a friend of mine” in 2015, not long after Trump launched his first campaign.
But when asked about Trump in 2017, Combs told the Daily Beast, “I think that to be honest, we don’t really give a fuck about Trump, because [black people are] in the same fucked-up position. So that’s not what we’re on.” Speaking to Charlamagne tha God in 2020, Combs said, “White men like Trump need to be banished. That way of thinking is real dangerous. This man literally threatened the lives of us and our families about going to vote … The number one priority is to get Trump out of office.”
When asked about a possible pardon in May, Trump said, “I haven’t seen him, I haven’t spoken to him in years. He used to really like me a lot, but I think when I ran for politics that relationship busted up … I read some little bit nasty statements in the paper all of a sudden.” But he seemed at least somewhat sympathetic to Combs’ plight, telling reporters that he “would certainly look at the facts” of the case. “I know people are thinking about it,” he added. “People have been very close to asking.”
During Friday’s interview, Trump recalled that he 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. It’s hard, you know? We’re human beings. And 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. So I don’t know …. it makes it more difficult to do.”
As Rolling Stone reported in May, the mogul’s associates began contacting people close to Trump shortly after he won the presidential election last November. During the presidential transition and in the opening months of Trump’s second administration, several longtime friends and allies of Combs, who’ve known the rapper for many years, began reaching out to some Trump transition and administration officials, as well as to others close to the president, two sources familiar with the matter and another person briefed on it told Rolling Stone.
The small number of senior Trump officials who were aware of the talks expressed deep reservations about commuting a possible Combs sentence, given the severity of the charges. (A rep for Combs did not immediately reply to a request for comment on Friday’s interview.)
It’s unclear if Combs’ acquittal on the most severe charges has changed the calculus among the president or anyone in his administration. As Rolling Stone reported on Thursday, Combs’ team has intensified their behind-the-scenes campaign in recent weeks, according to people in and out of the Trump administration. “The pleading has gotten bigger [this month],” a Trump adviser says, referring to a conspicuous uptick in Combs allies’ attempts to woo Team Trump.
In the past few weeks, longtime Combs allies have offered to pay political operatives, lobbyists, and others with close ties to Trumpland and government officials large financial sums in exchange for help with a potential Trump pardon, three people familiar with the matter tell Rolling Stone. One of the sources says the offer they were privy to was in the mid-six figures.
Multiple Trump advisers still feel it would be a deeply unforced error to pardon Combs while the administration is still embroiled in a scandal over their handling of the investigation into Jeffrey Epstein.
There are also ongoing talks among survivors to send a personal letter to Trump urging him against the idea. Rolling Stone has reviewed a draft copy of the letter, which admonishes Combs for attempting to “reclaim control” and “rewrite history” following his conviction on prostitution charges. A pardon, the draft adds, “would not be justice” but a “devastating message to survivors everywhere: that our lives, our pain, and our truth are still negotiable.”
On Thursday morning, lawyers for Combs submitted a 62-page filing asking a judge to vacate his prostitution conviction and fully acquit him or grant him a new trial “focused solely” on those two counts. Earlier this week, they filed a new motion asking that Combs be released on bail. Southern District of New York prosecutors filed their own motion Thursday night arguing that Combs remain in jail until his sentencing.