Donald Trump has ruled out a pardon for Sean “Diddy” Combs after he penned a personal letter to the President.
Last year, Combs was sentenced to four years and two months in prison following his conviction on federal prostitution-related charges. A judge said a “substantial sentence” was required to “send a message to abusers and victims alike that abuse against women is met with real accountability”.
Prior to that, back in July, 12 New Yorkers acquitted Combs of sex trafficking and racketeering charges, which carried a potential life sentence. They did, however, find him guilty of transportation to engage in prostitution involving his two ex-girlfriends, Cassandra ‘Cassie’ Ventura and “Jane”.
According to The New York Times, the disgraced rap mogul personally wrote a letter to Trump asking for a pardon after being sentenced. In a two-hour interview with the publication published earlier this week (January 8), the President said he was not considering granting the request.
It is unclear what Combs said in the letter or when it was sent, but Trump floated the idea of showing its contents to a room of reporters, but ultimately didn’t follow through.
NEW: Trump says that @Diddy wrote him a letter requesting a pardon, but he is not considering granting one.
He also said he has no intention of pardoning @SBF_FTX, @SenatorMenendez or @NicolasMaduro.
Of Derek Chauvin, he said “I haven’t been asked.” https://t.co/TV9yOWmrPF
— Kenneth P. Vogel (@kenvogel) January 8, 2026
A pardon from Trump has been the subject of much speculation since Diddy’s imprisonment, and last August, his lead attorney was forced to clarify his legal team’s claims that they had already reached out to Trump‘s administration for a potential pardon.
After a member of Combs’ legal team confirmed they had reached out to the White House, Marc Agnifilo refuted the comments, telling CBS News that despite leading Diddy’s legal team, he knew nothing of the pardon request, saying he had “nothing to do with a possible pardon.”
“I have had conversations with nobody. I have not spoken to the president. I have not spoken to anybody who speaks to the president about Sean Combs. I have not.”
Agnifilo also told CBS that he had not discussed a pardon with Diddy, except to tell his client what was in the news: “He says, ‘Go tell him (Mr. Trump) that I need a pardon. Go tell him I deserve a pardon.’ That’s what he said.”
Trump had previously speculated openly about a potential pardon. Back in June, he said that he would look into a potential pardon for Combs, and that he would “certainly look at the facts”. In August, he weighed in again, calling Combs “half-innocent” and saying it’s “more likely a no” that he would be pardoned.
Trump went on to recall that he was “very friendly with him” previously and they had gotten along “great”, although he added that he “didn’t know him well”. He continued: “When I ran for office, he was very hostile. It’s hard, you know? We’re human beings. And 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. So I don’t know …. it makes it more difficult to do.”
He was likely referencing comments Combs made to Charlamagne tha God in 2020, when he said, “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’s second term has already seen him issue a slew on controversial pardons, including to over a thousand January 6 rioters, former chief strategist Steve Bannon and former Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich.
As noted by Billboard, he has also issued pardons or commutations for a number of rappers, including NBA YoungBoy, Death Row Records co-founder Michael “Harry-O” Harris, and in his first term, Lil Wayne and Kodak Black.
News about the pardon comes after a four-part show, titled Sean Combs: The Reckoning, was released on Netflix late last year. It was first reported that 50 Cent – real name Curtis Jackson – was working on the doc in 2023. He serves as an executive producer on the project, which was directed by Alex Stapleton.
Shortly after it was released, Combs’ lawyers sent a cease-and-desist to the streamer ahead of its airing, claiming that the series uses “stolen” footage.
Netflix has since defended the documentary, insisting it is “not a hit piece or an act of retribution”.
For help, advice or more information regarding sexual harassment, assault and rape in the UK, visit the Rape Crisis charity website. In the US, visit RAINN.
