R. Kelly asks Trump to commute his 30-year sentence for sex trafficking

'The White House has a thorough review process for all clemency requests, with the President being the ultimate decider,' a White House official told Global News in a statement.

R. Kelly has filed a formal request asking U.S. President Donald Trump to commute his 30-year prison sentence for racketeering and sex trafficking, according to the U.S. Department of Justice’s Office of the Pardon Attorney. Kelly’s clemency request, which was made public this week, is currently listed online as a matter that is pending. The Justice Department’s website lists Kelly as seeking a commutation, which would reduce or end his prison sentence but would not erase his federal convictions, KTLA News reports.

In a statement to Global News, a White House official said, “This appears to be a random submission through the public portal which anyone can submit an application through.” “The submission of a pardon request should not be interpreted to mean anything other than an individual has chosen to submit a request. The team that reviews clemency requests at the White House is not tracking this request at this time,” the statement continued.

“The White House has a thorough review process for all clemency requests, with the President being the ultimate decider.” Get daily National news Global News has reached out to Kelly’s lawyer for further comment, but has not received a response. In 2021, Kelly was convicted in Brooklyn federal court of multiple charges, including racketeering and sex trafficking, and has been serving a 30-year sentence since 2022 in the Federal Correctional Institute facility in Butner, N.C.

This isn’t the first time Kelly’s legal team has requested clemency from Trump. Last June, Kelly’s lawyers alleged that the disgraced R&B singer overdosed on medication given to him by prison staff. In a filing obtained by USA Today, Kelly’s legal team claimed that after he was placed in solitary confinement, prison staff provided him an “overdose quantity” of medication on June 12, 2025 compared with his “normal anxiety and sleep medication dosages,” which resulted in his hospitalization on June 13, 2025.

The reported filing stated that Kelly was “forcibly removed from Duke University Hospital in Durham, North Carolina, against medical advice.” His lawyers claimed that the alleged overdose took place after he was put in solitary confinement on June 10, 2025 “against his will,” shortly after his legal team filed an emergency motion seeking his immediate release from federal custody to home detention while claiming that his life is in danger and accusing the government of misconduct, according to Variety. The filing also reportedly claimed that Kelly was removed from the hospital before he was set to receive surgery on “an ongoing blood clot issue” and the hospital would need to keep him there for two weeks for the surgery.

“It is undeniable. Mr. Kelly’s life is in jeopardy right now because the Bureau of Prisons denied him necessary surgery to clear clots from his lungs,” Kelly’s lawyer Beau B. Brindley claimed at the time. “He could die from this condition, and they are letting it happen.”

Brindley requested a temporary furlough to home detention but federal prosecutors referred to Kelly’s emergency motion claims as “fanciful” and “theatrical.” After filing the emergency motion, Kelly’s legal team requested clemency from Trump in a bid to transfer the disgraced singer from federal prison to home confinement. “We are in open discussions with people close to President Trump.

And those discussions have expanded and intensified since we filed our motion,” Brindley told People in a statement at the time. “We believe that President Trump is the only person with the courage to help us.”