No one is arguing that Trump gets the final word on the subject—in fact, it’s right there in the TMZ story: “Trump will do what he wants,” the outlet’s source, supposedly a “high-ranking White House Official,” said. Following the White House’s denial, TMZ doubled down: “The White House Communications Office is saying our story is not true. We stand by our story. Our story is accurate,” the tabloid said in an addendum to the original story.
The Watergate scandal this is not. The Trump administration is infamously leaky and everyone knows that Trump will act on his own whims, usually based on whether the parties involved had shown him proper fealty. Speaking about Combs in August, the president told Newsmax he likely wouldn’t give him a pardon. “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 said (via MSNBC). “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.” (Santos, by contrast, was “100% for Trump,” and got a pardon.)
But it’s not too late for Combs to make Trump some outrageous promises in order to land a get out of jail free card; the president likes to see his enemies defeated, groveling, and apologizing. A major cash infusion to Trump’s presidential library or some other shady business could do the trick, and ultimately vindicate TMZ‘s version of events.