Nicole Westmoreland, a member of Sean “Diddy” Combs’ all-star defence team, told CNN in an exclusive interview on Tuesday that the music mogul’s team has reached out to the Trump administration about a potential pardon following his conviction on two charges of transportation to engage in prostitution last month.
“It’s my understanding that we’ve reached out and had conversations in reference to a pardon,” Westmoreland said.
Trump indicated that he was unlikely to pardon Combs during an interview with Newsmax last week, saying, “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 added that this makes pardoning Combs “more difficult to do”.
Asked of Combs’ feelings about his chances of a pardon, even after Trump’s remarks, Westmoreland said this week that Combs “is a very hopeful person, and I believe that he remains hopeful”.
When contacted by CNN, a White House official said they “will not comment on the existence or nonexistence of any clemency request”.
Last month, a jury convicted Combs on two lesser charges of transportation to engage in prostitution and acquitted the hip-hop mogul of the most serious charges – racketeering conspiracy (referred to as RICO) and sex trafficking.
Combs was facing up to life in prison. Instead, he now faces a maximum sentence of 20 years – though, he is likely to serve a shorter sentence, according to legal analysts.
Prosecutors have not formally said what sentence they’re going to pursue – presentencing filings aren’t due until September – but had previously indicated he could face a minimum range of 51 to 63 months (or, roughly four to five years) in prison.
In a filing last week, they indicated their assessed range could end up be “substantially higher”.
Prosecutors accused Combs of leading a criminal enterprise made up of some of his closest employees, alleging they used threats, violence, forced labor, bribery and other crimes to force Casandra “Cassie” Ventura and another woman, “Jane”, to engage in drug-fueled sex acts with male escorts called “Freak Offs” or “hotel nights”.
During the two-month trial, Combs’ defence attorneys focused much of their efforts on questioning – and attempting to discredit – witnesses brought forth by the prosecution.
The prosecution presented its case over six weeks and called 34 witnesses during the federal criminal trial. Combs’ defence presented a roughly 30-minute case and called zero witnesses.
Of their approach, Westmoreland said their strategy was to “tell the truth”.
“We didn’t need a creative story. We didn’t need to overreach. We knew that telling the truth would mean not guilty.
“We knew that he had not sex trafficked anyone and we knew that RICO was absurd. So we figured, hey we’ll tell the truth and that will pay off. And I believe for the most part that strategy worked.”
Westmoreland added that the case shouldn’t have been brought by the government in the first place, and that their second mistake was “allowing it to keep going”.
“The government knew that there was no way Combs committed sex trafficking or RICO and they just continued prosecuting anyway,” she said.
“I think the jury saw through it.”
“Mr Combs was painted like a monster (by the prosecution),” Westmoreland also told CNN this week, when asked about what, if anything, Combs would like to tell the public.
“There were a lot of allegations made before trial and so I would imagine that any and everyone would want to clear their name.”
Westmoreland’s role as part of Combs’ defence
At trial, Westmoreland cross-examined several witnesses, including former “Danity Kane” singer Dawn Richard and Ventura’s longtime friend Bryana Bongolan, who accused Combs of dangling her over a 17-story balcony in 2016.
During a tense cross-examination of Bongolan, Westmoreland presented the jury with hotel records that showed Combs was in New York at the Trump Hotel on the date that Bongolan testified she was dangled over the balcony in Los Angeles, arguing that it was not possible for Combs to have engaged in the alleged incident.
“You agree that one person can’t be in two places at the same time?” Westmoreland asked Bongolan on the stand.
Outside the presence of the jury, Judge Arun Subramanian later likened Westmoreland’s cross-examination of Bongolan to a “‘Perry Mason’ moment”, referencing the classic network legal drama.
“It was an honour for the judge to say that,” Westmoreland said this week.
“I knew that Mr Combs was being wrongfully accused, so to be able to bring that out, it’s one of the things that I live for.”
Bongolan said during her testimony that while the details and date of the alleged incident are murky, she has “no doubt” that the incident occurred, even if she remembered the date incorrectly.
Combs has been held in Brooklyn’s Metropolitan Detention Centre since his arrest in Manhattan in September 2024.
The judge has denied him bail multiple times.
Combs’ defence had asked the court to release him on bail on a $50 million bond.
They have argued he is not a danger to the community and is not a flight risk.
Still pending is a motion asking the judge to fully acquit Combs or give him a new trial.
Other witnesses in the case, including Ventura, previously wrote letters to the judge, pleading for him to remain incarcerated, telling the court they would fear for their safety if he were released from jail ahead of his sentencing – though one former girlfriend, Gina Huynh who was initially supposed to testify against Combs – wrote a letter in his support urging the judge to release him on bail.
As previously reported, Huynh was part of the prosecution’s case against Combs, initially anonymously referred to as “Victim-3”.
But before the trial began, prosecutors alerted the court while “Victim-3” was under subpoena to testify, they had lost touch with her and her attorney, and “she may not show up”.
When asked how Huynh came to write a letter in support of Combs’ release for the defence, Westmoreland did not share specifics.
“I’m not exactly sure on who called who in reference to that, so I don’t know, but obviously Gina didn’t help the government, so they didn’t call her. Gina supports Mr Combs and wrote a letter and reference to that support.”
When asked if Combs himself – who the government had previously accused of witness tampering – contacted Huynh to write the letter, Westmoreland replied, “Absolutely not”.
Combs was physically violent on numerous occasions with Ventura, and photographic and video evidence of her being assaulted was shown to the jury throughout the trial, including 2016 hotel surveillance footage of Combs beating Ventura, which was first published by CNN in May 2024.
In his decision to deny Combs bail immediately after the verdict, the judge cited Combs’ admitted pattern of violence in his relationships.
Combs is facing dozens of civil lawsuits separate from his federal criminal trial.
The lawsuits come from men, women and from people who claim that they were minors at the time of the alleged incidents, which span decades.
Combs has previously denied all claims.
Westmoreland told CNN on Tuesday that she found it telling that those allegations were not part of the government’s case.
“We are talking about the United States government. This is the federal government, right? It doesn’t really get any stronger than that,” she said, later adding that “if there was any real evidence of those allegations, we would have heard all about it in the criminal trial”.
The government, she added, “did not put up allegations” like those outlined in the civil lawsuits.
“And if they had any evidence of that, they would have… That speaks volumes by itself,” she said.
Combs’ experience at trial and his time in prison has been “humbling”, Westmoreland said on Tuesday.
“He appreciates the second chance. He was facing life,” she said, in connection to him being acquitted of the more serious charges.
“And so I think that that really, that does something to the soul.”
“Being in jail is definitely, it’s hard,” his attorney added.
“I think he learned a lot through this situation. And I think it would be humbling to the strongest person on the face of the planet.”
Combs’ sentencing is currently set for October 3.
Westmoreland confirmed that the defence is preparing an appeal “as soon as possible”.
