The White House slammed a report that said US President Donald Trump could let Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs out of prison as soon as this week.

 

 

 

 

 

Combs, 55, was sentenced to 50 months in prison on two charges of transportation for the purposes of prostitution.

 

 

 

 

 

 

A ‘White House insider’ told TMZ that Trump is ‘vacillating’ on whether or not to follow up his weekend commutation of former Congressman George Santos with Combs.

 

 

 

 

 

 

While White House staff are advising against the move, the source said that ultimately: ‘Trump will do what he wants.’

 

 

 

 

 

When reached for comment, a White House spokesperson told the Daily Mail the report was completely fraudulent.

 

 

 

‘There is zero truth to the TMZ report, which we would’ve gladly explained had they reached out before running their fake news.’

 

 

 

‘The president, not anonymous sources, is the final decider on pardons and commutations.’

 

 

 

 

 

Combs, who avoided an even longer sentence when he was acquitted of more serious sex trafficking and racketeering charges – could be free at some point this week.

 

 

 

 

 

Trump has previously suggested he would probably not pardon him but added that Combs’ acquittal on numerous sex-trafficking and racketeering conspiracy charges meant he was ‘essentially, sort of, half innocent’.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Speaking to Newsmax in August, Trump ultimately said it was ‘more likely a no’ but noted the interesting situation the rapper had found himself in.

 

 

 

 

‘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,’ he said.

 

 

 

 

 

The president then detailed his past relationship with Combs, as both are native New Yorkers who became famous.

 

 

 

‘I was very friendly with him, get along with him great, seemed like a nice guy, didn’t know him well,’ he said.

 

 

 

 

 

In May, Trump said he’d consider it, telling the press: ‘I’d look at what’s happening… He used to really like me a lot.’

 

 

 

 

 

The news comes the same day Combs attorneys signaled that they plan to appeal his conviction.

 

 

 

 

 

The rapper and mogul has already been credited with serving 13 months of his sentence.

 

 

 

But In a two-page notice for the Federal District Court of New York that was filed by his attorney, Alexandra Shapiro, she signaled their plan to appeal, but they didn’t lay out the legal rationale behind the appeal, according to documents obtained by the Daily Mail.

 

 

 

However, in previous filings, the rapper’s legal team claimed that his conviction shouldn’t stand because the two prostitution charges did not apply to his conduct, as they are allegedly relics of the Mann Act that are now rarely used.

 

 

 

 

 

More detailed filings

laying out Diddy’s reasoning behind his appeal are likely to be submitted in upcoming weeks.