Donald Trump is certainly not doing Sean "Diddy" Combs any favors in his current predicament. After initially hinting at the possibility of granting the rap mogul a presidential pardon in the event of a conviction, the president, three months later, admitted that their past interactions have greatly diminished the likelihood of such an act of clemency. On August 1, in an interview with Newsmax's Rob Finnerty, weeks after Combs was convicted on two of the five charges against him, Trump remarked, "Well, I suppose he was somewhat half-innocent. Still behind bars or something. He was celebrating a victory, albeit not as resounding as he might have hoped."
Further noting that they hadn't spoken in years, Trump went on to describe their relationship as once amicable but strained since the 2020 presidential election. "I used to be very friendly with him," he reminisced. "We got along great. He seemed like a nice guy, though I didn't know him well. But when I ran for office, he turned hostile."
Continuing, Trump expressed the challenges of human nature in such situations. "It's tough, we're only human. We don't like our judgments clouded, do we? But when you know someone well and then they make terrible statements against you after you run for office, it complicates things. Honestly, it makes it harder to extend a pardon."
As for Combs, who was ultimately convicted of prostitution-related offenses but acquitted of sex trafficking and racketeering charges after a 29-day trial, his sentiment towards Trump was made clear a month before the 2020 election. Speaking to Charlamagne tha God, he praised Trump for "doing a great job of rattling America."
"Seeing what's happening, white men like Trump need to be banished," the Bad Boy Records founder stated on Revolt TV at the time. "Their way of thinking is dangerous. This man literally threatened our lives and the lives of our families for voting. 'Stand back and stand by,' he said."
He added, "We're in a war between love and hate. Our top priority is to get Trump out of office."
