‘Zero truth’: White House dismisses report Trump considering commuting Diddy’s sentence

Rumors that Trump was considering commuting Diddy’s sentence were quickly shut down amid the music mogul’s four-year federal prison term.

Any hope of the Trump administration intervening in the case of Sean “Diddy Combs” may have been officially squashed.

On Tuesday, October 21, after reports began to circulate that President Donald Trump was considering commuting the 55-year-old disgraced music mogul’s sentence, the White House denied the claim.

According to TMZ, an anonymous White House source had alleged Trump was “vacillating” on whether to step in and potentially commute Diddy’s prison sentence, suggesting a decision could come soon.

But the administration was quick to shut that down.

“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 spokesperson told NBC News. “The president, not anonymous sources, is the final decider on pardons and commutations.”

The latest development comes in the wake of Diddy’s high-profile sex trafficking trial, which ended in July when the music mogul was convicted on two counts related to transporting women across state lines for prostitution. In October, he was sentenced to just over four years in federal prison.

Throughout his legal battle, Combs’ legal team and others in his inner circle repeatedly sought help from the Trump administration to no avail. 

While Trump has intervened on behalf of other controversial figures in the past, he has repeatedly rejected any push to assist Diddy, partly because of the rapper’s previous public criticism of him and his presidency.

Earlier this year, when asked if he was considering a pardon for Diddy, Trump was transparent about the odds.

“You know, I was very friendly with him. I got along with him great. And seemed like a nice guy, I didn’t know him well,” Trump said during an interview with Newsmax. “But when I ran for office, he was very hostile.”

That hostility, according to Trump, “makes it more difficult to do.”