After officially taking office on January 20 of next year, Donald Trump will again have full presidential pardon power, meaning he can give anyone convicted of a federal crime a clean slate and release them from prison if they’re still incarcerated.
Perhaps the most famous (and infamous) person currently in federal custody is rapper Sean “Diddy” Combs, who is charged with racketeering conspiracy, sex trafficking, and transportation to engage in prostitution. If convicted, Combs faces decades behind bars.
So, would Trump pardon Combs? The two have been acquaintances for decades and once traveled in the same social circle.
A bodyguard who was employed by Combs in the 1990s doubts that Trump would hand the rapper a get-out-of-jail-free card, according to Newsweek.
Gene Deal, who served as a bodyguard for Combs in the 1990s when the star was known as Puff Daddy, has expressed doubts that Trump will take any such action on behalf of the hip-hop musician, given his past criticisms of the onetime real estate mogul.
During a recent appearance on hip-hop interview channel The Art of Dialogue, Deal said that Combs “wasn’t even good with Trump like that [anymore]. He was going against Donald Trump.”
Deal added that he expects Trump would ask the following question: “Why should I help this mother****** when he talks s*** about me?”
“Donald Trump probably wouldn’t p*** on Puff if he was on fire,” Deal added. “At one point, they was going at him. So why would he help? … I don’t believe he’s gonna help him. Not at all.”
In 2012, however, Trump sounded like a fan of Combs, remarking, “I love Diddy. You know he’s a good friend of mine. He’s a good guy.”
Combs returned Trump’s love in 2015, telling the Washington Post, “Donald Trump is a friend of mine, and he works very hard.”
But two years later, Combs wasn’t so enthusiastic.
“I think that to be honest, we don’t really give a f*** about Trump, because [black people are] in the same f*****-up position. So that’s not what we’re on. The tomfoolery that’s going on in D.C., that’s just regular everyday business to black folks. That’s not surprising.”
Combs also revealed that he had voted for President Joe Biden in 2020.
“When you look at it, we don’t have no choice. Say what you want about Biden, I can’t say I love the pick either. But we’ve got to get him in office, and then we’ve got to hold him accountable.”
Trump and Combs are the same in one regard: Both have been accused of horrific sexual crimes and both appear to be sexual predators. Too bad they can’t share a prison cell together.
