‘Tiger King' Joe Exotic seeking Trump pardon
Netflix's 'Tiger King' star, whose real name is Joseph Maldonado, called on Trump 'to listen to the voice[s] of' Republican Rep. Lauren Boebert (Colo.) and other public figures as well as 'the millions of people around the world to make this right and allow me to go home.'
Earlier this year, Boebert signaled she supported a pardon of Maldonado, who was sentenced in January 2020 to a 22-year prison sentence over a murder-for-hire plot against animal rights activist Carole Baskin.
Maldonado first asked for a pardon during Trump's first term, sending a handwritten letter to the White House in September 2020. The president, at the time, said he would 'take a look.'
Then, in 2021, during former President Biden's term, he asked again and found no success.
Maldonado railed against Biden earlier this after the outgoing president provided blanket pardons to some of his family member.
'If I was a crack dealer, maybe if I broke in the capital [sic] or even have been related to the Bidens. I might have gotten some relief on being in prison innocent,' he said in January.
He also slammed Trump this spring after the president pardoned Todd and Julie Chrisley's tax evasion and fraud charges.
'This officially shows the Justice system is still two-sided. You are either rich and connected or your poor and being trafficked by the system,' Maldonado posted on Instagram on May 27.
In this week's call for a pardon, Maldonado said an appeal for a new trial was denied.
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