Bulwark Takes - Sean Combs’ Fate Depends on Trump’s Ego

Episode Date: August 2, 2025

Sam Stein takes on Donald Trump’s wild Newsmax interview, where Trump openly toys with pardoning disgraced figures like Puff Daddy, George Santos, and even Ghislaine Maxwell.

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If you have questions or concerns about gambling or someone close to you, please contact Connex Ontario at 1-866-531-2600 to speak to an advisor free of charge. Bid MGM operates pursuant to an operating agreement with iGaming Ontario. Checking off your to-do list? Here's an easy one from Pennzoil. Get up to a $30 MasterCard prepaid virtual card with the purchase of 10L of Pennzoil Ultra Platinum at Canadian Tire. Maximizing engine protection and getting a reward for it? That's two checks on your list. Alright, hey guys, it's me, Sam Stein, managing editor at the Bullork. It's Friday night. I have no life.

I watched Trump's interview with Newsmax tonight, so you didn't have to. And I felt compelled to come on and talk about it because there were some, as usual, fairly wild assertions and admissions, I would say. Before we get into it, subscribe to the feed. Just so I feel like I'm watching this for a purpose, subscribe to the feed. Okay. All right. So look, the day was crazy to begin with Trump fired the commissioner of the BLS, that's the Bureau of Labor Statistics. There was a threat to send nuclear submarines to Russia. All that followed a really poor jobs report that was, you know, shows that the economy is not actually in a great place.

Labor market is not in a great place. All that was discussed on this Newsmax interview, the BLS stuff in particular, Trump insisted, for instance, that the commissioner was, you know, changing the numbers to hurt him. It made no sense whatsoever. Tim and Sarah got into that earlier today. I recommend you watch that YouTube. It's great. We don't need to cover it here because there's other stuff that he talked about.

Particularly Trump has asked about a series of potential pardons and acts of clemency that he could issue that really says a lot about Donald Trump, honestly. Both the people he associates with, the people he identifies with, the people he feels empathy for, why he feels empathy for them, and just how abusive he is with the clemency and pardon power. So, we are going to start with Puff Daddy, Sean Combs, who was recently convicted, is facing a potentially decent-sized jail sentence. And reportedly, he and his associates are trying to grease the wheels with Trump, aides and Trump associates to get a pardon before he asked to report.

And Trump was asked about this and he didn't necessarily rule it out. He just said like the reason he might not do it is because Sean Combs was not nice to him during one of his campaigns. Take a listen to the clip. Sean Diddy Combs. Right. Would you consider pardoning him? Well, he was essentially, I guess, sort of half innocent.

Yes. I don't know what they, still in jail or something, but he was celebrating a victory, but he seems, I guess it wasn't as good as a victory. Probably, you know, I was very friendly with him. I got along with him great, and seemed like a nice guy. I didn't know him well. But when I ran for office, he was very hostile.

He said some not so nice things about you, sir. Yeah, and it's hard, you know, like you were human beings. Right. And we don't like to have things cloud our judgment, right? 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. But more likely a no for Combs, it sounds like. I would say so. Okay. Very hostile, and then he just sort of admits, you know, we're human beings. And I guess that's like points for candor, right?

Like the guy says, I'm gonna give pardons to people who I like and who are nice to me. But not usually how it's done, and also like the stuff Puff Daddy is accused of is pretty grotesque. Not the most sympathetic character. I know there are people who are sympathetic towards him, but frankly not the most sympathetic character.

And here Trump is being like, you know what, I might do it because I used to like the guy, but I might not do it because he was mean to me during a campaign. Really ridiculous. There were two other people that came up during the course of this Newsmax interview. Right after he was asked to have Puff Daddy, Trump was asked about George Santos, the disgraced former member of Congress who was a serial liar and fabricator, made up incredible parts of his biography, absolutely manipulated campaign finance data, totally corrupt but wildly entertaining.

I'll give him that. At one point he said he was Jewish and then explained, because he's not Jewish, that he was Jew-ish. I appreciated that one. Trump said the following when asked if he would consider a partner for Santos. And what about George Santos? He just went away, seven years. You know, he was, he lied like hell. I mean, I have to tell you.

And I didn't know him, but he was 100% for Trump. But I didn't, you know, I didn't, I don't, I might have met him maybe, maybe not, I don't know. Right. But he was a congressman and his vote was solid. It sounds like a lot. He got in, you know, you could blame the other side for not checking him out. Yeah.

He didn't do all those things that he said. Not a lot of news missed it, everybody missed it. Well, you could say the media missed it, everybody missed it. They found out about this stuff after the election was won. So nobody's talked to me about it. So they really, you know, they haven't talked to me about the two. They have talked to me about Sean, but they haven't talked to me about the two. But again, with him, I have the right to do it. Nobody asked me, but it's interesting. He,

is it seven years? Seven years. He just went away. It's a long time. Okay. So, you know, he was 100% for Trump. And that's what matters to Donald Trump. Although he hasn't really considered it, so it is what it is. But look, this is what it takes to get, you know, reprieve from the president is that you have to be for the president.

He's making it very clear that the pardon power is going to be exercised for his friends and his allies. If you want to get it, you're going to have to suck up or pay up. It's pretty plain. That used to be considered corrupt. Maybe still is considered corrupt, but he's just talking about it openly right now. All right. The third person whose pardon or clemency was discussed on this Newsmax interview was Jelaine Maxwell, who obviously is at the center of attention because she was the primary associate for Jeffrey Epstein. She is facing, I believe, a 20-year

sentence. She's currently serving, I should say. Earlier today, it was reported that she was moved to a minimum security federal prison camp in Texas. That is suspicious, to say the least. This comes on the heels of her talking to the Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanch, who was Trump's one-time lawyer about, I don't know, ways to sort of unveil new information. All this is in the context of Donald Trump refusing to, or his associates refusing to release more info on the Epstein files. And there's a lot of talk about, well, will they give her a pardon? Will they grant her some clemency? Will they give a more lenient sentence than the 20 year prison sentence

that she is currently serving for recruiting and trafficking minors in exchange for more information? If so, what kind of information is it? Because we also got word today from Bloomberg that the Epstein files contained references to Trump but that FOIA officials were crossing them out so who knows what information she could provide anyways Donald Trump on newsmask is asked would he consider clemency for Maxwell and this is what he said. Galeen Maxwell serving 20 years in prison for sex traffic for sex trafficking is clemency on the table for her in exchange for testimony? I'm allowed to do it, but nobody's asked me to do it.

I know nothing about it. I don't know anything about the case, but I know I have the right to do it. I have the right to give pardons. I've given pardons to people before, but nobody's even asked me to do it. I have the right to do it. We. I have the right to do it. We know you have the right to do it. That's not the customary answer when talking about someone who is convicted of recruiting and trafficking minors for sex.

Usually you would get something like, in no way, shape or form would I give clemency to someone who's convicted for these heinous crimes. But for Trump, for some reason, it's nefarious, it's mysterious, he is just floating apart in inclementcy. And you could read into it what you wanna read into it. It's not too hard to read between the lines there. I should note, he was asked, Trump was asked about the Epstein files

on this interview as well. And he had this to say that, I just don't want people to get hurt. Again, like I mentioned, it seems pretty evident he's in the Epstein files. Ian Amoska said he's in the Epstein files. There's that Bloomberg report today about it. Is he the person he doesn't want to get hurt?

This story is not going away. But for now, I was just sort of tickled by this talk of pardons and clemency. First of all, P puff daddy, George Santos, Jelaine Maxwell. It's like three ridiculous characters. It used to be that you would try to grant some sort of clemency and pardons for people who were deserving of it. I don't think in this case, these people have any real claims to that, except for

the fact that they're famous and Trump probably has known a few of them. Definitely two of them, maybe George Santos slowly says he didn't. But it gives you a good window into how he views the role that he plays and who gets favor during the Trump presidency and how he exercises the powers that the presidency has. We are in a bad timeline folks.

But at least we get interviews like the one on Newsmax, which I watched on your behalf. And for that, subscribe to the feed. Thank you very much. Appreciate it. Have a good night.