Four weeks after rapper and music producer Sean "Diddy" Combs was convicted on two counts of transportation to engage in prostitution in July 2025, a rumor began to spread that U.S. President Donald Trump was considering pardoning him.
For example, a post on X relayed the claim (archived):
As of this writing, the post had amassed 4.7 million views and 30,000 likes. The claim also appeared on Reddit and Bluesky. Further, several Snopes readers searched the site seeking to confirm the veracity of the rumor.
The claim stemmed from a July 29, 2025, report by Deadline, an online publication focused on entertainment news, that said Trump was indeed "seriously considering" a pardon for the music mogul. As of this writing, Combs was awaiting sentencing at the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn, New York, with sentencing scheduled for Oct. 3, 2025, according to court documents.
Due to the fact that Deadline's sources are anonymous, Snopes could not confirm directly that the rumor was true.
"The White House will not confirm or deny pardons that may or may not happen," a White House spokesperson said in an email. We also contacted Combs' lawyers and will update this report should they respond. We are therefore unable to confirm whether the claim is true or false.
Combs' team had been "pitching" a pardon to the White House, Deadline said, citing anonymous "insiders" in the rapper's entourage. Further, Deadline quoted an unnamed source within the Trump administration as saying that a pardon was being "seriously considered" at the White House.
This came two months after Trump did not rule out such a pardon during a press conference in the Oval Office on May 30, 2025. Asked by Fox News White House Correspondent Peter Doocy if he might consider a pardon for Combs, Trump said he'd "certainly look at the facts":
I know people are thinking about it. I know they're thinking about it. I think people have been very close to asking. First of all, I'd look at what's happening, and I haven't been watching it too closely, although it's certainly getting a lot of coverage. I haven't seen him. I haven't spoken to him in years. He used to really like me a lot, but I think when I ran for politics, he sort of that relationship busted up from what I read. I don't know. He didn't tell me that, but I'd read some little bit nasty statements in the paper all of a sudden.
You know, it's different. You become a much different person when you run for politics and you do what's right. I could do other things, and I'm sure he'd like me, and I'm sure other people would like me, but it wouldn't be as good for our country. As we said, our country is doing really well because of what we're doing, so it's not a popularity contest. So, I don't know. I would certainly look at the facts. If I think somebody was mistreated, whether they like me or don't like me, it wouldn't have any impact on me.
Trump and Combs had a friendship that lasted for years, Snopes reported in 2024.