Sean 'Diddy' Combs' lawyer has 'no idea' about Donald Trump pardon speculation
Published in Entertainment News
Sean 'Diddy' Combs' lawyer Marc Agnifilo has "no idea" about speculation that US President Donald Trump could pardon the rapper.
It was reported by Deadline earlier this week that the White House chief is "seriously considering" issuing a full presidential pardon to the disgraced star - who was convicted on two counts of transportation to engage in prostitution last month and could face up to 20 years in prison.
Agnifilo told Variety: "I am not involved in that in the least. I have literally no idea. There are times I think there's nothing to it, and there are times I think it's just rumour mill stuff. But, I do not purport to know the President's mind. I really don't know."
The lawyer insists that a pardon isn't part of his legal strategy in the case.
He said: "My end of the business is very focused on the case alone - and the merit of the case and what happened in the courtroom. I don't do anything else."
Agnifilo filed a motion earlier this week calling for Diddy's conviction on the two counts to be overturned as he doesn't feel that that 55-year-old rapper - who was acquitted of sex trafficking and racketeering charges in his trial - has violated the Mann Act.
He said: "Sean Combs has basically been convicted for using the services of a sex worker, and that's just not really prosecuted anymore. The Mann Act is not supposed to be applied to the user of prostitution services... It's supposed to be used for people who make money from the business of prostitution."
The lawyer continued: "We've now had the time to review hundreds of Mann Act cases over several decades, and so our letter we submitted this week is based on all of that work, which hadn't been done during the trial because there's just no reason to do it.
"The trial is about guilt or innocence, not about how the Mann Act applies historically."
Diddy has been imprisoned at the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn since his arrest last September and Agnifilo says that the star is missing his seven children as he awaits his sentencing on October 3.
The legal representative said: "He misses his kids. He's learned a lot. His time in jail - nearly 11 months now - has given him the ability to reflect and consider his life and look at all the blessings he's been given: his seven children, the fact that he's still close with the mothers of his children, the life he's been given.
"His view is: 'Have I lived up to the blessings I've been given?' And I think his conclusion is: 'Not in every aspect have I lived up to those blessings.'
"What he wants to do when he gets out is to start small. He wants to spend time with his children and get reacquainted with his old life."
Agnifilo claims that the I'll Be Missing You hitmaker "hasn't been outside" since his imprisonment.
The lawyer said: "He hasn't been outside since September. He hasn't had sun on his skin. It's like a sort of sensory deprivation. The light's always the same, it's artificial light, there's no breeze, there's no wind, there's very little change in temperature. So, he wants to get out and be with his family."
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