Welcome to DU!
The truly grassroots left-of-center political community where regular people, not algorithms, drive the discussions and set the standards.
Join the community:
Create a free account
Support DU (and get rid of ads!):
Become a Star Member
Latest Breaking News
Editorials & Other Articles
General Discussion
The DU Lounge
All Forums
Issue Forums
Culture Forums
Alliance Forums
Region Forums
Support Forums
Help & Search
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:
....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.”
.....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.”
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.”
2 replies
= new reply since forum marked as read
= new reply since forum marked as read
