Diddy Cites Donald Trump in Bond Argument

Bad Boy Entertainment CEO, Sean 'Diddy' Combs, is currently being held without bond on human trafficking charges [click here if you missed that].

In the latest bond request Diddy compares himself Donald Trump...

From News Nation

Sean “Diddy” Combs’ attorneys cited President-elect Donald Trump’s federal criminal case in a letter to a judge expected to rule on his bail bid request Monday.

In a letter submitted to Judge Arun Subramanian on Friday, the music mogul’s attorneys argued that Combs’ statements on social media and other public venues are protected by the First Amendment and should be evaluated based on the “most demanding scrutiny” as it was in Trump’s presidential immunity case.

“The Court should apply Trump’s heightened standard when considering Mr. Combs’ speech here,” his lawyers wrote.

They argued that the court in Trump’s case found that “only a significant and imminent threat to the administration of criminal justice” supports restricting a defendant’s speech. Combs’ lawyers argued that this is why he has a “greater constitutional claim” than other trial participants to criticize and speak out against the prosecution.

In Trump v. United States, the Supreme Court considered whether Trump was immune from criminal prosecution for actions taken during his presidency.

In their letter, Combs’ lawyers referred to a social media post by his children wishing him a happy birthday.

“The government’s arguments that asking his children to post birthday wishes on Instagram and that he is not entitled to publicly express his opinion that this prosecution is racially motivated are, quite simply, an unconstitutional effort to silence him,” Combs’ lawyers wrote.

Federal prosecutors pushed back against the argument in their own letter, saying, “Defendant’s intent could not be clearer: he expressly wanted to interfere with the jury pool in this case through a targeted, public, social media post, and he caused his family members to make the post.”

Combs appeared in court for a pretrial hearing Friday. He has been detained for more than two months after being charged with racketeering, sex trafficking by force and transportation to engage in prostitution.