Far-right SiriusXM host Megyn Kelly recently gave President Donald Trump a firm warning against using his presidential pardon powers on a divisive public figure.
The Daily Beast reported Wednesday that Kelly dedicated a portion of her latest podcast episode to urging the president to not pardon Sean “Diddy” Combs, who was convicted earlier this month in a New York trial on charges of transportation to engage in prostitution (he was acquitted on more serious charges of human trafficking and racketeering). The former Fox News and NBC host insisted that while Trump has not publicly ruled out a pardon for the music mogul, “pardoning Diddy will create another Epstein [situation].”
“It’s the same thing. It’s telling all these young vulnerable women, they don’t count. They don’t matter, that even the top Republican president will cover up any wrongdoing when it comes to that type of a victim,” Kelly said. “It just cannot happen.”
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Deadline reported this week that the White House has entertained the idea of pardoning Combs as he awaits sentencing, saying that freeing the rapper and producer was being “seriously considered.” Prior to Trump’s first election, Diddy took a complimentary tone toward him, saying Trump was “a friend of mine” who “works very hard.” But the Beast reported that in 2020, Diddy endorsed Joe Biden, telling Breakfast Club host Charlamagne Tha God: “White men like Trump need to be banished.”
“I am here to urge him not to even consider it, much less to do it,” Kelly said of the potential pardon. “Just to put it in terms Trump can understand — he can’t stand you, Mr. President. He was once nice to you. He’s turned on you, and he doesn’t deserve a favor from you, who he worked actively to stop in 2020.”
“[Diddy] doesn’t deserve any of Trump’s mercy,” she added.
In addition to the possibility of pardoning Combs, Trump has also notably not ruled out a presidential pardon for Ghislaine Maxwell, who was convicted pedophile Jeffrey Epstein’s chief co-conspirator. Maxwell is currently serving a 20-year sentence for grooming young girls to be exploited. She recently met with Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche where she reportedly gave new information on roughly 100 people.
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