Will Sean Diddy get a pardon? President Trump opens up on charges against the rapper

US President Donald Trump openly spoke about singer and rapper Sean Diddy Combs and said that he considers him “sort of half-innocent” despite his criminal conviction in federal court in July 2025. The US president said that pardoning the music mogul was “more difficult” because of past criticism.

In an interview with Newsmax on Friday night, Trump said, “He was essentially, I guess, sort of half-innocent.” “He was celebrating a victory, but I guess it wasn’t as good a victory,” he added.

Combs, 55, was convicted in a New York federal court of two counts of transportation to engage in prostitution for flying people around the country, including his girlfriends and male sex workers, for sexual encounters, while he was acquitted of more serious charges. He could get up to a decade in prison at his sentencing set for Oct. 3.


According to The Guardian, several media outlets reported that Trump has been weighing a pardon for Combs. He has been seen partying in public and exchanging mutual declarations of friendship ahead of his two presidencies.

Speaking about the music mogul, Trump said, “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.”

Combs had told The Daily Beast in 2017 that he did not “really give a f**** about Trump,” according to The Guardian. When Trump’s first presidency ended in 2020 following a defeat to Joe Biden, Combs, who is Black told radio host Charlamagne tha God that “white men like Trump need to be banished.” “The number one priority is to get Trump out of office,” Combs said.

Sean 'Diddy' Combs asks judge to throw out guilty verdicts or grant him a new trial

Meanwhile, Combs has asked a judge to throw out his guilty verdicts on prostitution-related counts or grant him a new trial, saying such convictions are without precedent. “This conviction stands alone, but it shouldn't stand at all," the Wednesday filing said.

Combs' lawyers argue that his two felony convictions were a unique misapplication of the federal Mann Act, which bars interstate commerce related to prostitution. “To our knowledge, Mr. Combs is the only person ever convicted of violating the statute for conduct anything like this,” a Wednesday filing from Combs' legal team said.