(This story was up to date so as to add new info.)
Sean Combs, the rapper generally referred to as “Diddy,” has been well-known in music, enterprise, and political circles because the late Nineteen Nineties with each Democratic and Republican candidates.
However in response to federal prosecutors, certainly one of hip-hop’s greatest names used his fame to coerce ladies into demeaning sexual acts for greater than 16 years leading to three felony fees of intercourse trafficking and racketeering on Monday. Diddy has pled not responsible to all fees.
Combs’ community of high-profile politicians features a who’s who in nationwide and native politics, together with presidential candidates, members of Congress and mayors.
Beginning with former President Donald Trump, who, like Diddy, was born and raised in New York, was first publicly linked to the rapper in 1998 when the true property mogul was one of many high-profile superstar attendees on the singer’s twenty ninth birthday celebration.
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Trump was additionally featured in a video invitation to the get together, and referred to Combs as “the legendary Puff Daddy,” in response to Newsweek.
Over time, Combs has primarily supported Democratic causes, together with Rock the Vote and launching the voter-education drive Vote or Die marketing campaign in 2004.
Fellow Democrats, together with Vice President Kamala Harris, former President Barack Obama, and New York Metropolis Mayor Eric Adams, have additionally crossed paths with the music mogul.
Harris had posted her because of Combs on X, previously Twitter, throughout her first run for the White Home after he hosted a city corridor on racial inequality and COVID-19 in April 2020. The occasion additionally featured appearances by Rev. Al Sharpton and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York.
Extra:Diddy edited into photograph of Kamala Harris and Montel Williams | Reality verify
As for Trump, whereas filming The Movie star Apprentice 5 in 2012, the truth tv host advised contestant Aubrey O’Day, who labored for the hip-hop impresario, that Combs was his buddy.
“I really like Diddy. You recognize he’s a very good buddy of mine, he’s a very good man,” Trump mentioned. He then requested O’Day: “Is he a very good man?”
She seemed off-camera earlier than replying, “I don’t wish to reply that query,” and later revealed on a podcast that she was fired as a result of she “wasn’t prepared to do what was anticipated of [her] — not talent-wise, however in different areas.”
Combs, 54, was arrested Monday night time after being indicted by a grand jury in New York Metropolis. He faces fees of intercourse trafficking by drive, fraud, or coercion; racketeering; and transportation to interact in prostitution, in response to a 14-page indictment unsealed Tuesday morning.
A federal choose denied bail for Combs on Wednesday, granting a prosecution request for the rapper to stay behind bars earlier than trial in certainly one of NYC’s most infamous jails: the Metropolitan Detention Middle in Brooklyn.
The MDC is the one federal jail in NYC and is understood for its crumbling infrastructure and unchecked violence as a consequence of a extreme staffing scarcity, in response to The New York Instances. The infamous correctional facility additionally as soon as housed high-profile inmates, together with R. Kelly, Ghislaine Maxwell, and Sam Bankman-Fried.
Combs mentioned his friendship with Trump in 2015 because the Republican was nonetheless seen as an unbelievable candidate within the 2016 presidential race. “Donald Trump is a buddy of mine, and he works very arduous,” he advised The Washington Submit.
However by 2020, Combs had soured on Trump. “White males like Trump have to be banished. That mind-set is actual harmful,” he advised Charlamagne tha God in an interview.
“Once you take a look at it, we don’t haven’t any alternative. Say what you need about Biden, I can’t say I really like the choose both. However we’ve received to get him in workplace, after which we’ve received to carry him accountable,” Combs concluded.
The rapper faces a sentence of as much as life in jail and a minimal of 15 years if convicted.
Reuters contributed to the reporting of this story.
Melissa Cruz is an elections reporting fellow who focuses on voter entry points for the USA TODAY Community. You may attain her at [email protected] or on X, previously Twitter, at @MelissaWrites22.