A day after a pro-Trump rally turned into a riot and breach of the Capitol building in Washington D.C., President Trump is now focusing his attention on pardoning some of hip-hop's favorite rappers.
According to a report from Bloomberg.com on Thursday (Jan. 7), Trump is considering pardoning both Lil Wayne, 38, and Kodak Black, 23, as well as himself, senior White House officials and family members.
Trump, 74, plans to announce the pardons on Jan. 19, his final full day in office. People familiar with the matter claim that the president's ideas are currently being vetted by senior advisers and the White House counsel’s office.
This would be a preemptive pardon for both Wayne and Trump, who are not currently in prison. Trump reportedly wants the preemptive pardons to shield anyone facing legal action from prosecutions for any federal crimes committed before the pardons were issued.
Lil Wayne's legal matters stem from a guilty plea he entered in a gun possession case in December of 2020. Weezy entered a guilty plea in federal court for possession of a firearm and ammunition by a convicted felon after being arrested on the offense at the Miami-Opa Locka Executive Airport in 2019. He faces up to 10 years in prison if convicted because he has a prior felony gun charge conviction stemming from a 2007 arrest in New York City.
In October of last year, Wayne met with President Trump to discuss criminal justice reform and the Platinum Plan for his campaign, which was met with plenty of backlash from the hip-hop community.
"Just had a great meeting with @realdonaldtrump @potus besides what he’s done so far with criminal reform, the platinum plan is going to give the community real ownership," Wayne tweeted along with a photo of himself and Trump. "He listened to what we had to say today and assured he will and can get it done."
Kodak Black is currently in United States Penitentiary, Thomson in Illinois, where he is currently serving 12 months in prison for a 2019 arrest for attempted second-degree criminal possession of a weapon, which runs concurrently with a 46-month prison sentence for making a false statement on governmental paperwork when trying to purchase a registered firearm in 2019.
During his time in prison, Kodak has publicly asked for President Trump's help. In September of last year, his legal team reached out to Trump to commute his sentence. Kodak is seeking a change of a legal penalty or punishment to a lesser one. Bradford Cohen, the rapper's attorney, confirmed to XXL that "commutation has been filed" to Trump to shorten Kodak's sentence.
A month later in November of 2020, the Florida rapper said he would donate $1 million to charity if Trump gave him a pardon for his offenses.
"If The President Them Free Me , I’m Gonna Spend 1 million on Charity within The First Year I’m Out. That’s on Everything," Kodak tweeted at the time.
Earlier this week on Jan. 4, fellow 2016 XXL Freshman Lil Yachty also asked Trump to commute Kodak's prison sentence.
"Hey @realDonaldTrump my friend @KodakBlack1k deserves to be commuted," Yachty, 23, tweeted. "The system punished him way to hard for a paperwork crime #freekodak."
Today marks the first time news broke that Trump was considering pardons for both Wayne and Kodak. XXL has reached out to camps for Lil Wayne and Kodak Black for comment.
See Rappers Showing Support for President Trump in 2020
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