During his final days as president, Donald Trump clashed with Snoop Dogg behind the scenes as the rapper sought clemency for his imprisoned friend, Death Row Records co-founder Michael “Harry-O” Harris, according to an exclusive report by Rolling Stone.
At the time of the feud, the 45th president was reportedly angry at Snoop because of the rapper’s past insults toward him, including in a 2018 interview in which Snoop called Trump and his supporters racist.
Snoop, whose real name is Calvin Broadus, also released a music video in 2017 where he aimed a toy gun at a clown resembling Trump, which reportedly infuriated the president and prompted a tirade on social media.
“Can you imagine what the outcry would be if @SnoopDogg, failing career and all, had aimed and fired the gun at President Obama? Jail time!” Trump griped at the time on Twitter.
By the end of Trump’s term in early 2021, however, Snoop had softened his stance as he tried to arrange a pardon for Harris, who had been locked up for three decades at the Federal Correctional Institution in Lompoc, California.
But Trump rejected the notion after realizing Snoop was connected to the cause to free Harris.
The president was reportedly incensed about the issue as he prepared to deliver his national farewell address, less than two weeks after the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol and three days before Joe Biden’s inauguration.
“Well, f-ck him,” Trump seethed in the Oval Office on Jan. 18, indicating he was still angry about the rapper’s previous remarks, as Trump refused to entertain the pardon for Harris initially, Rolling Stone reported, citing former administration officials who were there at the time.
With the clock ticking down on Trump’s presidency, aides reportedly spent the final hours of Trump’s term scrambling to persuade him that Snoop Dogg had changed his tune, showing how much the topic dominated White House discussions in the days before the crucial transfer of power.
After Trump and his supporters failed to overturn Biden’s 2020 election win, Snoop Dogg and his group went to work behind the scenes to convince Trump to free Harris, who had been scheduled for release in late 2028 following his conviction in the 1990s for cocaine trafficking and attempted murder.
“Over 30 years ago, I was part of the problem,” Harris told the Daily Mail in 2019 after being denied parole several times. “However, over the years, I have repeatedly proven myself to be part of the solution.”
Trump had already granted multiple pardons during his term, and announced that he planned to offer more during his final days, raising the prospect for Harris to be released, too.
However, the episode involving Snoop highlighted Trump’s penchant for erratic decisions, his strong desire for revenge, and his obsession with celebrities and gossip — characteristics that have always been a significant part of his public persona, even during major crises, and which would likely continue to shape his leadership style if he takes office again in 2025.
Snoop Dogg’s first two albums were produced by Death Row before he withdrew from the label soon after the 1996 murder of fellow rapper Tupac Shakur.
In late 2020, Snoop Dogg started working with civil activists for criminal justice reform who had connections to the White House, including Ivanka Trump, the former president’s daughter, who ultimately played a major role in convincing Trump to pardon Harris.
Among those involved in the secret clemency bid during Trump’s final days was activist Weldon Angelos, a former music producer Trump had pardoned the previous month after she’d served more than a decade of a 55-year sentence for dealing drugs while armed.
“Snoop brought this case to me, and I brought Alice Johnson on board to help me with it, and she brought it to the West Wing,” Angelos told The Daily Beast at the time, referring to another former federal prisoner who received a 2018 pardon from Trump after serving 21 years of a life sentence for cocaine trafficking.
Celebrity figure Kim Kardashian was instrumental in influencing Trump to pardon Johnson, who has since become a criminal justice reform advocate.
“In the past, the president has given her the ability to select cases. And she doesn’t get [clemency for] all of them … but with Mr. Harris, she is not taking no for an answer,” Angelos said ahead of Trump’s explosion over the matter with Snoop.
In the ensuing days, Johnson said she spoke to several White House officials about the clemency case, including chief of staff Mark Meadows and Trump’s senior advisers, Ivanka Trump and Jared Kushner.
The January 2021 story published by the Daily Beast mentioned Snoop Dogg’s involvement in the last-minute clemency efforts and recalled his strongly worded comments about Trump in 2018, when Snoop blasted Kanye West after he met with Trump in the Oval Office, wearing a red MAGA hat and expressing support for the president despite his racial controversies.
“I don’t give a f-ck, I tell ’em straight up, motherf-cker: If you like that nigga, you motherf-ckin’ racist,” Snoop Dogg railed about West and Trump in the article. “F-ck you and f-ck him. Now what?”
The story caught the attention of some members of Trump’s inner circle, who had already raised doubts about his previous support for justice reforms and some of the pardons he had granted earlier in his term.
One aide compiled a list of insults that Snoop Dogg hurled at Trump and made sure Trump remembered how the rapper had criticized him in the past.
Trump was reminded of the 2017 music video in which Snoop burned him in effigy, depicting the president as a clown being shot with a toy gun, which set Trump off at the time.
Reminded of Snoop’s past criticisms, the president became furious, even though he seemed to have forgotten how much Snoop Dogg disliked him in the past.
Trump suddenly decided that the rapper didn’t deserve any favors from him, jeopardizing clemency for Harris after the paperwork had already been drawn up, along with a plan to announce Trump’s pardon immediately following Biden’s inauguration.
Instead, Trump ordered aides to take Harris’ name off the list of potential pardons and throw out his paperwork as a way to get back at Snoop Dogg, according to two former administration officials and two other sources.
Word quickly spread that Harris’ release was in danger due to Trump’s pettiness, leading to frantic efforts to persuade the outgoing president that Snoop Dogg no longer harbored animosity toward him, partly because of Trump’s previous commutations and pardons.
Activists hurried to contact senior Trump aides and family members, as well as those close to Snoop Dogg, fearing that Trump’s anger could ruin Harris’ chances for a pardon on the last day that Trump spent in the White House.
Suggestions included getting Snoop Dogg to post positive messages about Trump on social media or to apologize to him, all to please the unpredictable former president, Rolling Stone reports.
But those close to Snoop Dogg didn’t think these ideas would work. While he didn’t want to continue the feud with Trump, he also didn’t want to appear too soft.
Advocates and White House aides resolved to show Trump a documentary about efforts to free Harris, which included footage of Snoop Dogg praising Trump, which they hoped would calm Trump down and change his mind on Harris, Angelos told Rolling Stone.
Trump saw the documentary footage, backed by senior officials who still had his trust, and said he appreciated Snoop Dogg’s praise and, just before leaving office, ordered Harris’ name back on the list of pardons.
On the final day of Trump’s presidency, the White House released a list of nearly 150 people granted clemency, including Harris, Steve Bannon, Lil Wayne, Kodak Black, and Elliott Broidy and other well-connected individuals.
Snoop Dogg has not officially endorsed Trump for 2024, although in January, he was widely quoted in the media, saying, “I have nothing but love and respect for Donald Trump.”
