President Donald Trump has confirmed that Sean "Diddy" Combs has asked him for a presidential pardon as part of his federal criminal case.

During a CNN interview this Monday (06) about a possible pardon for Ghislaine Maxwell, Jeffrey Epstein's ex-girlfriend, Trump said that "many people" had asked him for pardons - including Combs, who has been sentenced on Friday to more than four years in prison for two counts of transportation with intent to engage in prostitution.

In August, a member of Combs' defense team had told CNN that the music entrepreneur's team had contacted the Trump administration about a possible pardon.

"As far as I know, we've been in touch and we've had conversations about a pardon," attorney Nicole Westmoreland told CNN at the time.

Trump had previously indicated, in an interview with NewsmaxHe said that it would be unlikely to grant Combs a pardon: "I was very good friends with him, we got on well and he seemed like a good guy. I didn't know him well. But when I ran for president, he was very hostile."

At the time, Trump added that this made the pardon "more difficult to grant".

Asked about Westmoreland's comments in August, a White House official said he "would not comment on the existence or non-existence of any request for clemency".

Also on Monday, Combs' lawyers asked Judge Arun Subramanian - who sentenced the businessman on Friday - to recommend that the Federal Bureau of Prisons place him in a low-security prison in Fort Dix, New Jersey, where he can "treat drug use problems" and "maximize family visits and rehabilitation efforts."

 

(Photo DR)