He’s done it before: Could Trump pardon Diddy after sex crime conviction?

Trump is on a rampage to rip up the rulebook, and has been working. Until now. After reports of a potential pardon for convicted sex trafficker Sean “Diddy” Combs from President Trump, the White House has quickly moved to clear up the messy situation amid a reported backlash from the GOP.

After a high-profile legal battle, Sean “Diddy” Combs was sentenced in early October to 50 months in federal prison for two counts of transporting people for prostitution in violation of the Mann Act. The sentence also included a fine of $500,000 and a period of supervised release.

He pleaded not guilty and has maintained his innocence. While the most serious charges, racketeering and sex-trafficking, were dismissed by a jury, the case still brought to light Diddy’s deeply troubling conduct and extensive victim list during the hearing.

Despite all the evidence against the rapper, in the wake of the verdict, speculation swirled that Trump might step in and offer clemency, with the president himself publicly acknowledging that Combs had asked for a pardon: “A lot of people have asked me for pardons. And I call him ‘Puff Daddy’; he has asked me for a pardon."

These comments came after Trump had previously admitting to being “very friendly with him,” adding that “I got along with him great and seemed like a nice guy.”

On October 21, after reports from TMZ that Trump was said to be “considering” the move, the White House firmly rejected those rumours, even going so far as to issue a statement calling a widely reported claim completely false.

“There is zero truth to the TMZ report, which we would’ve gladly explained had they reached out before running their fake news,” a White House official told NBC News. “The President, not anonymous sources, is the final decider on pardons and commutations.”

Deadline explained the decision, saying that “one source close to the White House predicted would be ”catastrophic,“... comparing it to the way the Jeffrey Epstein case was handled earlier this year.”

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During his second term, Trump has been given the green light to demolish the East Wing of the White House, send the National Guard into various cities, and constantly threaten other countries, but pardon Diddy? Even for the GOP, that appears a step too far.

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