Diddy "remains hopeful" to get a Trump pardon after his legal team approached the president for potential clemency

Sean "Diddy" Combs reportedly "remains hopeful" about receiving a presidential pardon from U.S. President Donald Trump as he awaits his sentencing after being convicted on two charges of "transportation to engage in prostitution." During his verdict on July 2, 2025, Diddy was partially acquitted on three of his five charges after the jury found him not guilty of sex trafficking and racketeering conspiracy.

In an exclusive interview with CNN on August 5, 2025, Nicole Westmoreland, one of the attorneys on Diddy's high-profile legal team, stated they recently reached out to President Trump regarding potential clemency for the hip-hop mogul.

“It’s my understanding that we’ve reached out and had conversations in reference to a pardon,” Westmoreland said.

Furthermore, Westmoreland added that Diddy, who is currently detained at the Metropolitan Detention Centre, “is a very hopeful person, and I believe that he remains hopeful” about receiving a potential presidential pardon. The rapper faces a maximum sentence of ten years for each prostitution conviction and will be sentenced on October 3, 2025.

According to CNN, Nicole Westmoreland questioned former Danity Kane singer Dawn Richard and Cassie Ventura’s ex-friend, Bryana Bongolan, during the trial. Judge Arun Subramanian called her questioning of Bongolan a “‘Perry Mason’ moment.” Westmoreland challenged Bongolan’s story that Diddy dangled her from a balcony in L.A. by showing hotel records proving he was in New York that day.

During her recent CNN interview, Westmoreland reacted to the judge's remarks about her cross-examination, saying:

“It was an honor for the judge to say that. I knew that Mr. Combs was being wrongfully accused, so to be able to bring that out, it’s one of the things that I live for.”

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What has President Trump said about pardoning Diddy?

President Donald Trump has addressed Diddy's potential pardon a few times since the rapper's arrest and subsequent trial. For the unversed, Diddy and Trump maintained a cordial relationship till the latter's entry into politics, after which the Bad Boy Records founder severely criticized Trump on various occasions.

According to Rolling Stone, Combs insinuated that Black people "don't give a f**k about Trump" during a 2017 interview with the Daily Beast. In a 2020 interview with Charlamagne, the rapper further added:

“White men like Trump need to be banished. That way of thinking is real dangerous. This man literally threatened the lives of us and our families about going to vote … The number one priority is to get Trump out of office.”

Trump first addressed Diddy's trial and potential pardon during a press conference at the Oval Office on May 30, adding that no one asked him about a pardon at the time. Furthermore, he continued that he was willing to consider a pardon for anyone who had been "mistreated" irrespective of his personal feelings toward them or vice versa.

However, in a recent interview with Newsmax dated August 1, the president seemingly changed his opinion about pardoning Combs, indicating that he most likely would not greenlight a presidential pardon for the rapper due to his "terrible statement" about him.

"Well he was essentially, I guess sort of, half-innocent. I don't know what they do, he's still in jail or something. He was celebrating a victory but I guess it wasn't as good of a victory. You know, I was very friendly with him, I got 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," Trump said.

When interviewer Rob Finnerty reminded Trump that Combs said some "not so nice things" about him in the past, the president replied:

"Yeah, and it's hard. You know, like you, we're human beings and we don't like to have things cloud our judgement, 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."

When Finnerty asked whether that meant Trump's answer was "more likely a no for (pardoning) Combs?" the president responded, "I'd say so."

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The update about Diddy's potential presidential pardon came days after the rapper was denied bail a fifth time. On July 28, 2025, Combs' legal team filed a request for their client's release from jail ahead of his sentencing in exchange for a $50 million bond. On August 4, 2025, Judge Arun Subramanian denied bail, stating that Combs posed a risk of "flight or danger."

According to People Magazine, Diddy's bail request was endorsed by his former girlfriend, Virginia "Gina" Huynh, who wrote a letter to the judge requesting that he be released. While Huynh was reportedly identified as "Victim-3" in the rapper's 2024 indictment, she did not testify during the trial.

Edited by Divya Singh