President Donald Trump demurred on whether he would pardon Ghislaine Maxwell, Sean "Diddy" Combs, and former Republican Rep. George Santos, telling Newsmax he's been asked to pardon only one of them to date.
In a wide-ranging and exclusive interview with "Finnerty" host Rob Finnerty at the White House on Friday, Trump said he has the power to pardon but was noncommittal about whether he would.
On Maxwell, serving 20 years for trafficking minors to her longtime associate and former financier boyfriend, the late Jeffrey Epstein, Trump said, "Nobody's asked me to do it.
"I don't know anything about the case, but I know I have the right to do it. ... I've given pardons to people before, but nobody's even asked me to do it."
Trump said he has been asked to pardon Combs, who was recently acquitted on charges of racketeering conspiracy and sex trafficking but found guilty on two counts of transportation to engage in prostitution.
"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 said. "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.
"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. It makes it more — I'm being honest — it makes it more difficult to do."
Asked if Combs was more likely a no, Trump said, "I would say so."
As for Santos, sentenced to seven years after pleading guilty to charges including wire fraud and aggravated identity theft, Trump said, "He lied like hell."
"And I didn't know him, but he was 100% for Trump. ... I might have met him. Maybe, maybe not, I don't know. But he was a congressman and his vote was solid," Trump said. "You know, you could blame the other side for not checking him out. He didn't do all those things that he said. ... Everybody missed it. They found out about this stuff after the election was won.
"So nobody's talked to me about it. ... They have talked to me about Sean, but they haven't talked to me about the two."
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Mark Swanson ✉
Mark Swanson, a Newsmax writer and editor, has nearly three decades of experience covering news, culture and politics.