Trump says he hasn’t been asked to pardon Maxwell, Santos, likely won’t pardon Diddy
President Trump said he hasn’t been asked to pardon disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein’s longtime associate Ghislaine Maxwell or former Rep. Geroge Santos (R-N.Y.), adding that he likely would not give a pardon to rapper Sean “Diddy” Combs.
The president was asked about the three individuals serving prison sentences in a Newsmax interview that aired on Friday.
“They have talked to me about Sean, but they haven’t talked to me about the two,” he told host Rob Finnerty.
When asked if he would grant clemency for Maxwell — who is serving a 20-year prison sentence — in exchange for her testimony, Trump replied, “I’m allowed to do it. But nobody’s asked me to do it.”
“I know nothing about it. I don’t know anything about the case, but I know I have the right to do it,” the president continued. “I have the right to give pardons. I’ve given pardons to people before, but nobody’s even asked me to do it.”
The president has previously said he hadn’t thought about a pardon for Maxwell, who recently met with Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche as the administration faces increasing pressure to release more information from the Epstein files. An attorney for the convicted sex offender also has said he hasn’t talked to Trump about a potential pardon.
The Justice Department earlier last month released a memo concluding Epstein, a convicted sex offender, died by suicide and did not keep a client list, leading to massive outrage from within the Republican Party.
Meanwhile, Trump also didn’t rule out a pardon for Santos, who surrendered for a 7-year sentence last week after pleading guilty to federal wire fraud and identity theft charges.
The president said, “He lied like hell.”
“And I didn’t know him, but he was 100 percent for Trump,” he continued, adding that “his vote was solid” when he was in Congress.
The president also said that no one has talked to him about a pardon for the former GOP lawmaker, who was expelled from the House in 2023. Santos has said he will be seeking clemency from Trump.
“You know, you could blame the other side for not checking him out,” Trump told Finnerty. “He didn’t do all those things that he said… you could say the media missed it. Everybody missed it. They found out about this stuff after the election was won.”
On if he would consider a pardon for Combs, who was acquitted last month of sex trafficking and racketeering and convicted of lesser prostitution-related offenses, Trump said Combs is “half innocent.”
He cited though that the rapper was friendly to him before his political career and then didn’t support him when he ran for president.
“I was very friendly with him. I got along with him great, and he seemed like a nice guy. I didn’t know him well. But when I ran for office, he was very hostile,” Trump told Newsmax “And it’s hard, you know? I’m like you, we’re human beings, right? And we don’t like to have things cloud our judgment, 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’s more difficult,” the president added. “It makes it more — I’m being honest — it makes it more difficult to do.”
When asked if it’s more likely that he would not grant Combs clemency, Trump replied, “I would say so.”
Before the rapper was convicted, Trump said he’d “look at the facts” when pressed on a pardon for him.