Key charges against Diddy mysteriously dropped — is Donald Trump’s promise to pardon his ‘good’ friend happening?

In a surprising twist at the federal criminal trial of Sean “Diddy” Combs, prosecutors have announced they are dropping several major charges just one day before closing arguments are set to begin.

In a 2012 episode of The Celebrity Apprentice, Trump called Diddy “a good friend” and said, “I love Diddy.” In 2015, Diddy told the Washington Post that “Donald Trump is a friend of mine, and he works very hard.” When asked on May 30, 2025, if he would consider pardoning Diddy, Trump said that no one had formally asked, but he acknowledged that “people are thinking about it.” Former Death Row Records CEO Suge Knight has suggested that Diddy will be pardoned by Trump if convicted.

However, the move was explained in a letter to Judge Arun Subramanian as an effort to “simplify” the instructions for the jury. However, in practice, it seems to show that the prosecution recognized some of their key accusations did not have enough evidence to support them.

According to TMZ, among the charges now being removed from the jury’s consideration are kidnapping, attempted arson, and certain details related to aiding and abetting sex trafficking. This is a major development, especially given how much attention this high-profile case has received.

The decision to drop the kidnapping charges seems to come from the prosecution’s belief that they could not prove Diddy had kidnapped his former employee, Capricorn Clark. Clark had reportedly been taken to a building and given a lie detector test, supposedly to find out if she was involved in stealing Combs’s jewelry. Similarly, claims that Diddy had kidnapped Cassie Ventura, who was allegedly held at the London Hotel, are also no longer being pursued. The prosecution’s letter suggests they felt they had “failed” to prove these specific kidnapping accusations.

Diddy’s charges are falling faster than his reputation

Even more unexpected is the decision to drop the attempted arson charge, which was based on the claim that Combs, in a jealous rage, had blown up Kid Cudi’s car. Throughout the trial, prosecutors reportedly had trouble proving a direct connection between Diddy and the fire, leading them to remove this charge from the jury’s consideration. Both the kidnapping and attempted arson charges were closely tied to the larger racketeering charge that Diddy still faces. Taking them out of the jury instructions suggests the prosecution is narrowing its focus within that broader accusation.

When it comes to the aiding and abetting sex trafficking charge, the prosecution’s letter did not clearly state which exact parts they were removing from the jury instructions. However, it was made clear that the sex trafficking charges themselves are not being dropped entirely. Only certain aspects, specifically aiding and abetting, are being taken out. This suggests the prosecution is fine-tuning how they will present their case on the remaining serious allegations.

Despite these major changes, prosecutors are still asking for important instructions to be given to the jury about the nature of consent and payment in sex trafficking cases. They specifically want the jury to be told that even if someone initially agreed to sexual acts, that consent can later be withdrawn. This instruction is crucial to the prosecution’s remaining arguments on sex trafficking, especially regarding alleged victims and witnesses like Cassie and a woman referred to only as “Jane.”