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Tiger King‘s Joe Exotic is reportedly planning a new campaign to seek a presidential pardon from Donald Trump.
The notorious TV star – real name is Joseph Maldanado-Passage – is currently serving 22-years behind bars for a murder for hire charge against former rival Carole Baskin, as well as numberous animal abuse charges.
According to TMZ, Exotic’s legal team is preparing a new case file that will be sent directly to Trump, claiming he was wrongly convicted for the plot against Carole Baskin.
Photos obtained by the publication show that the campaign has already obtained an eye-catching open top bus which has been printed with the message “President Trump Please Pardon Joe Exotic.”
Their latest bid to secure Exotic’s freedom comes after Trump previously confirmed he will “take a look” at the possibility of pardoning the TV star, who is serving 22 years behind bars for his role in the murder-for-hire plot.
Responding to a question at a White House press conference last month, the US President admitted he had not seen the Netflix show — which documents the increasingly bitter rivalry between big cat trainer Exotic and Baskin, the CEO of Florida animal sanctuary Big Cat Rescue.
Any pardon could potentially be swayed by the President’s son Donald Trump Jr, who previously described Exotic’s sentence as “aggressive” after he watched the show in two sittings.
“Now, I don’t even know exactly what he was charged with … I watched the show, but it was like, I don’t know exactly what he was guilty of or wasn’t,” Trump Jr told Sirius XM.
“It doesn’t seem like he was totally innocent of anything. But when they’re saying, ‘We’re putting this guy away for 30 years,’ I’m saying that seems sort of aggressive.”
Exotic, real name Joseph Allen Maldonado-Passage né Schreibvogel, was jailed after unsuccessfully hiring a hitman to claim Baskin’s life.
Their rivalry became increasingly bitter after Baskin lobbied US officials to legalise the Big Cat Public Safety Act, which would make it tougher for individuals to own tigers and lions, as well as putting an end to the cub-petting permitted in Exotic’s own zoo.
Meanwhile, Nicolas Cage looks set to portray Exotic in a new TV series.
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