Diddy Pardon: Donald Trump 'Certainly' Would Consider Clemency For Sean Combs As Old Pal Faces Sex-Trafficking Trial & Life Behind Bars
'I would certainly look at the facts if I think somebody was mistreated, whether they like me or don't like me,' Trump said in the Oval Office when asked if he would pardon the currently under trial Diddy. 'It wouldn't have any impact on me,' Trump added, teasing the situation out as he loves to do.
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Listening to his defense lawyer Brian Steel cross-exam his former personal assistant 'Mia,' Combs was in court in New York City today as he has been at almost every hearing since being arrested last fall and since this criminal trial started on May 12.
Facing off against the tumultuous but powerful U.S. Attorney's office for the Southern District of New York, the much-accused Combs is up against on racketeering, sex trafficking, transportation to engage in prostitution and more, charges.
Just a few feet away from Combs himself and the jury of eight men and four women, 'Mia' told the lower Manhattan courtroom that she was raped multiple times by the Bad Boy Records founder. That testimony is very similar to that of previous witness and ex-Combs girlfriend Cassie Ventura, who spoke at grueling length on the violence and filmed sex marathon 'freak-offs' she says she was forced to participate in over the couple's decade long relationship. Like other witness in the trial, 'Mia' also spoke of watching Combs beat, abuse and manipulate Ventura, as he did to many of the people in his orbit.
Insisting that 'no one has asked' for a pardon for Combs yet, Trump went on to say 'I know people are thinking about it.' With a nod to the increasing rumors of outreach from Combs' crew to Trump's team, the former Apprentice host added: 'I know they're thinking about it. I think people have been very close to asking.'
Always one to reward friends, armed supporters and donors, Trump recently gave pardons to Todd and Julie Chrisley, the reality show stars who were sentenced in 2022 after fraud and tax evasion convictions.
'I'd look at what's happening, and I haven't been watching it too closely, although it's certainly getting a lot of coverage,' Trump stated Friday at the White House of the intensively profiled Diddy trial. 'I haven't seen him. 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, sort of that relationship busted up.'
Other than the Combs question, facing a just published New York Times expose of Elon Musk's ketamine and other drug use, Trump's Oval Office farewell to his top donor and Department of Government Efficiency chief became another freewheeling exercise in deflection and softballs.
To put that exercise in perspective, when querried about the Gray Lady's story that last year on the campaign trail stumping for Trump, the world's richest man had been 'using drugs far more intensely than previously known,' Musk flipped the question to an attack on the NYT. Mocking the paper over its investigative coverage of Vladimir Putin and Russia's interference in the 2016 Presidential election and more and a recent court ruling over their Pulitzer Prize on the topic.
Musk quipped: 'That New York Times? Let's move on.' And the press corp did, with no one asking a follow up question.
With questions about martial advice for French President Emmanuel Macron and Joe Biden's mental state from a carefully curated press pool, the softballs represented a clear example the squeeze the media has gotten from this White House and the injection of MAGA supporting outlets. The few serious questions about tariffs, banning foreign students in Ivy League universities, the war in Ukraine, and a Middle East ceasefire got short shrift from Trump and Musk and more partisan rhetoric.
Covered live by all the cable news networks and streamed on multiple feeds on multiple platforms, Trump and Musk's mutual admiration club saw POTUS seated at the Resolute desk reading in great part from a binder in front of him while the SpaceX boss loomed over Trump in his traditional all-black uniform with 'Dogefather' t-shirt and a MAGA ballcap uniform. Starting a bit later than its scheduled 1:30 p.m. ET time, the bulk of the presser was more a meandering Trump monologue of half-truths, outright lies and falsehoods, the 'rigged' 2020 election, Biden autopen and the usual greatest hits, with some Oval Office redecoration praise tossed in from a fast and loose with the facts Musk.
About to hit the deadline on his time as an official advisor to Trump, Musk announced earlier this week he would leave his controversial role in the administration to refocus on his stock market and sales huritng businesses. Under regulations around financial disclosure and more, an individual like Musk can only serve as special government employees a period not exceeding 130 days per year.
Perceived to be crossing the line ethically with benefits to his companies from his administration position and close proximity to Trump, Musk's chainsaw approach became the opposite of an exercise in cost saving and a clown show in execution. Promising to save the taxpayers up to $2 trillion dollars, Musk and his DOGE crew claimed in the end to bring in around $175 billion. More than a few analysts actually pegged the number at closer to $16 billion. Not chump change on any level, but a number dwarfed by the estimated expenditures of Trump and Project 2025 to add up to $5 trillion to the already ballooning federal deficit
Even today, Musk swore that DOGE would cut and save $1 trillion from the federal government.
Combs' trial is expected to last another four weeks. Working on a 9 a.m. – 3 p.m. ET daily schedule, with wiggle room to go an hour longer here and there if required, Judge Arun Subramanian has promised the jury they will be done by July 4 – exactly when a round of Independence Day pardons could be coming from Trump.
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