President Donald Trump is looking into commuting Sean “Diddy” Combs’ sentence as soon as this week, a high-ranking White House official told TMZ.
The source informed the entertainment news outlet that Trump is “vacillating” on commuting the embattled music executive’s sentence. Other White House staff are also reportedly trying to convince Trump to stay away from commuting the 55-year-old’s conviction.
But the source said that Trump “will do what he wants,” and he could even commute Combs’ sentence before next week.
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As previously reported by Face2Face Africa, a federal judge sentenced Combs, 55, to 50 months in prison on prostitution-related charges. U.S. District Judge Arun Subramanian also fined him $500,000 and ordered five years of supervised release at a hearing in Manhattan federal court on October 3. Combs had faced up to 20 years behind bars.
The disgraced music executive and multi-millionaire was arrested by federal agents on September 16 last year and charged with sex trafficking, racketeering conspiracy, and transportation to engage in prostitution. Combs has, however, maintained his innocence.
Following his conviction, Trump, 79, revealed that Combs asked him for a presidential pardon in his high-profile federal sex trafficking case.
READ ALSO: Here are the special conditions for Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs after he’s released from prison
Trump touched on the topic while speaking with CNN’s Kaitlan Collins about the likelihood of granting Jeffrey Epstein’s ex-girlfriend, Ghislaine Maxwell, a pardon. Trump stated that Combs and “a lot of people” have asked him for pardons.
A member of Combs’ legal team told CNN in August that the Bad Boy Records founder’s representatives had contacted the Trump administration to discuss a potential pardon for him.
“It’s my understanding that we’ve reached out and had conversations in reference to a pardon,” attorney Nicole Westmoreland told CNN’s Elizabeth Wagmeister at the time.
Trump had also initially stated that he wasn’t looking at granting Combs a presidential pardon. “I was very friendly with him, I got along with him great and he seemed like a nice guy,” Trump told Newsmax. “I didn’t know him well. But when I ran for office, he was very hostile.”
Trump also stated that Combs’ hostility toward him was why it was “more difficult” to grant him the pardon.
Meanwhile, Combs’ legal team have asked Judge Subramanian to suggest to the Bureau of Prisons that he serve his sentence at a low-security federal correctional facility in Fort Dix, New Jersey, to enable him to “address drug abuse issues” and “maximize family visitation and rehabilitative efforts.”
READ ALSO: Judge suggests where Diddy should serve his prison sentence
