UPDATE — 10/21/25, 6:30 a.m. ET: A White House official tells Us Weekly that there is no truth to the report that President Donald Trump is considering commuting Diddy’s sentence. The official notes that the president makes all final decisions regarding pardons and commutations.
Original story below:
President Donald Trump is considering commuting Sean “Diddy” Combs’ sentence as early as this week, according to a report.
TMZ reported on Monday, October 20, that Trump is contemplating a commutation following Diddy’s 50-month sentence on two prostitution-related charges earlier this month. Some White House staff are against the idea, the outlet said, citing a White House official.
President Donald Trump Confirms Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs Asked Him for a Pardon
Diddy, 55, was sentenced to 50 months — just over four years — in prison on October 3. The year he has spent in prison since his September 2024 arrest will count towards his sentence.
During the music mogul’s sentencing hearing, Judge Arun Subramanian also fined Diddy $500,000 and ordered him to five years of supervised release when he leaves prison.
Diddy was found guilty on two counts of transportation to engage in prostitution in July, following a two-month trial. He was cleared of three further charges: two counts of sex trafficking and one count of racketeering conspiracy.
Diddy has maintained his innocence and denied all the charges against him.
The “I’ll Be Missing You” rapper was first arrested in September 2024 after a federal indictment was issued. His lawyer, Marc Agnifilo, told Us in a statement at the time, “We are disappointed with the decision to pursue what we believe is an unjust prosecution of Mr. Combs by the U.S. Attorney’s Office. Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs is a music icon, self-made entrepreneur, loving family man, and proven philanthropist who has spent the last 30 years building an empire, adoring his children, and working to uplift the Black community.”
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In an August 1 interview, following Diddy’s conviction, Trump weighed in on potentially issuing Diddy a pardon.
“Well, he was essentially, sort of, half-innocent. I don’t know what they do that he’s still in jail or something. He was celebrating a victory, but I guess it wasn’t as good a victory,” Trump told Newsmax’s Rob Finnerty.
“I was very friendly with him, got along with him great, seemed like a nice guy, didn’t know him well,” Trump said. “But when I ran for office he was very hostile. But it was hard, 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.”
Another of Diddy’s attorneys, Nicole Westmoreland, told CNN on August 5 that someone in Diddy’s camp had reached out to the president for a pardon.
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“It’s my understanding that we’ve reached out and had conversations in reference to a pardon,” Westmoreland said.
Earlier this month, Trump told reporters inside the White House that Diddy had indeed requested a pardon.
“A lot of people have asked me for pardons. I call him Puff Daddy, [he] has asked me for a pardon,” the president said.
Trump previously pardoned reality television stars Todd and Julie Chrisley in May. Last week, he commuted the sentence of former New York Representative George Santos, who was sentenced to over seven years in prison on fraud and identity theft charges in April.
