Diddy Pardon: Trump Said He’d Look at Facts in Considering It

President Donald Trump said Friday that he hasn’t been approached about pardoning Sean “Diddy” Combs — who’s currently on trial on sex-trafficking and racketeering charges in Manhattan — but he’d “look at the facts” of the case.

“I would certainly look at the facts,” Trump said at an Oval Office press conference. “If I think somebody was mistreated, whether they like me or don’t like me, it wouldn’t have any impact on me.”

Trump talked about Combs’ case in response to a question from Fox News’ Peter Doocy, who asked whether the president would consider pardoning Combs.

Trump said he was once friends with Combs, even talking about him on “The Apprentice.” But their relationship “busted up” when Trump became involved in politics, he said.

Federal prosecutors in Manhattan have accused Combs of using the resources of his record label and power in the music industry to coerce women into “freak offs,” where they’d participate in dayslong, drug-fueled sexual performances with other men while he watched.

In the trial, which began earlier this month and is expected to last several more weeks, witnesses have testified about Combs personally beating and sexually assaulting victims. Combs has pleaded not guilty to the charges against him, and his attorneys say his conduct doesn’t amount to sex trafficking.

Combs’ trial is taking place in the same 26th-floor courtroom where a jury found Trump liable for sexual abuse in a civil trial, and where Trump briefly testified in a second trial over additional damages stemming from the abuse claims.

In the Friday press conference, Trump said he had not been following the trial closely and had not spoken to Combs in years.

He said he believes Combs’ lawyers are “thinking about” asking for a pardon.

“I think some people have been very close to asking,” he said.