US President Donald Trump on Monday said that Sean “Diddy” Combs has sought a pardon following his conviction on two prostitution-related charges. “A lot of people have asked me for pardons,” Trump told reporters in the Oval Office. “I call him Puff Daddy, [he] has asked me for a pardon.” Combs was sentenced on Friday to over four years in prison. He will receive credit for the 12 months he has already served at the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn since his arrest in September 2024, and will be fined $500,000. Combs’ lawyers, who spoke exclusively with ABC News on Friday, stated they are considering an appeal, arguing that the judge unfairly imposed a sentence four times longer than requested and that it was based on unproven allegations not included in the conviction. “The jury made it very clear in their verdict that they acquitted him of the sex trafficking and the RICO counts,” lead attorney Teny Geragos said at the time. “Not guilty means not guilty.” According to a letter from his legal team, Combs has requested to serve his sentence at FCI Fort Dix, a low-security federal prison in New Jersey that houses about 4,000 inmates and offers a drug treatment programme known as RDAP, the Residential Drug Abuse Programme. “In order to address drug abuse issues and to maximise family visitation and rehabilitative efforts, we request that the Court strongly recommend to the Bureau of Prisons that Mr Combs be placed at FCI Fort Dix for RDAP purposes and any other available educational and occupational programmes,” defence attorney Teny Geragos said in the letter on Monday. Trump’s comments followed a question about another possible pardon for Ghislaine Maxwell, a former associate of Jeffrey Epstein. The Supreme Court on Monday declined to hear Maxwell’s appeal challenging her sex trafficking conviction, without providing an explanation. “I’ll take a look at it,” Trump said. “I will speak to the Justice Department,” he added. Maxwell is currently serving a prison sentence for her role in assisting Epstein to recruit, groom and abuse underage girls as part of a sex trafficking scheme.
