R Kelly asks Trump for reduction in sex crimes sentence
R Kelly asked US President Donald Trump to commute his 30-year sentence for sex crimes.
The disgraced I Believe I Can Fly singer, who was found guilty of racketeering, sex trafficking, sexual exploitation of children, kidnapping and forced labor in 2021, is not seeking a full pardon but is seeking a reduced prison sentence after requesting a “random” pardon.
The request is currently listed online as a matter pending with the White House Pardon Office, but the supporting documents it submitted have not yet been made public.
“This appears to be a random application submitted through a public portal where anyone can apply,” a White House official told Rolling Stone.
“The submission of a request for clemency should not be interpreted as meaning anything other than a person choosing to make a request. The team that reviews clemency requests at the White House is not currently pursuing this request.
“The White House has a comprehensive review process for all pardon requests, and the President is the final decision maker.”
In June 2025, the lawyer of the 59-year-old singer, whose real name is Robert Kelly, filed a petition for a new trial, also asking for his client’s immediate release on bail due to health concerns and the alleged attempt on his life.
Her lawyer, Beau B Brindley, claimed Kelly was denied treatment for dangerous blood clots in her lungs and claimed an “open white supremacist” told her prison officials had recruited him to harm the singer.
He told a press conference at the time: “R Kelly doesn’t have time to go through normal channels when his life is in danger.
“I’m going to ask President Trump to help us because we need him.”
He later claimed that the Trapped in the Closet star’s treatment worsened after the motion was made public.
“Right after our proposal was made public, Robert was thrown into solitary confinement,” he told People magazine.
“He can’t call his family. He doesn’t have access to the commissary. Spiders are crawling on him while he’s trying to sleep.”
The emergency motion included an affidavit from inmate Mikeal Glenn Stine, who claimed he was asked to kill Kelly by three senior Bureau of Prisons (BOP) officials.
Stine, who claims to be a member of the Aryan Brotherhood and said he was once a commissioner in the group, says prison officials arranged for his transfer to Federal Correctional Institution Butner in North Carolina and placed him in Kelly’s unit.
Stine claims that in exchange for committing or arranging the murder, he was promised the chance to escape custody and live as a “free man.”
Stine also claimed he had terminal cancer and later told Kelly about the plot, saying he no longer intended to pursue it.
A federal judge in Chicago has still not ruled on Kelly’s request for a new trial, but his bail request was denied.
