Trump says he'll look at pardoning 'Tiger King' star Joe Exotic a day after Don Jr slams 'aggressive' sentence
'Tiger King' star Joe Exotic has caught the attention of the White House and could be a step closer to getting out of prison. On Wednesday, April 8, Trump shared that he would examine a request for a pardon from Joe 'Exotic' Maldonado-Passage who stars in Netflix's new series 'Tiger King: Murder, Mayhem and Madness'. The documentary looks at the intense feud between two big cat owners Joe Exotic and Carole Baskin.
Joe was the former owner of Greater Wynnewood Exotic Animal Park and is currently serving a 22-year prison sentence for hiring someone to murder his rival, Baskin. A reporter was heard asking Trump whether he has heard of the Netflix series and if so, would he commute Joe's 22-year-sentence.
Trump responded saying, "I’ll take a look" when he was asked about the case and his son Trump Jr's support for a pardon. POTUS' eldest son has made jokes about lobbying for his father to pardon Joe Exotic. Trump then asked, "Which son? Must be Don — what did he do?" referring to Trump Jr.
Donald Trump Jr on Tuesday, April 7, said he thought the 22-year sentence of Joe Exotic, whose real name is Joseph Maldonado-Passage, was "aggressive". "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," reports The Sun.
President Trump then asked about Joe Exotic and said, "I know nothing about it … he has 22 for what? What did he do?" The reporter then explained why Joe Exotic was in prison to which Trump said, "Do you think he didn’t do it? Are you on his side? Are you recommending a pardon?"
He then turned to ask the other journalists in the room and said, "Would you recommend a pardon?" We had previously reported that Joe Exotic is adamant that his rival Baskin is responsible for the disappearance of her ex-husband, Don Lewis.
Lewis disappeared in 1997 and was declared dead though his body was never found. Baskin currently lives with her second husband Howard Baskin and has slammed claims that she was involved in Lewis' death, calling it the "most ludicrous of all the lies and idiotic." She took to her Big Cat Rescue website and shared how disappointed she is.
"There are not words for how disappointing it is to see that the series not only does not do any of that, but has had the sole goal of being as salacious and sensational as possible to draw viewers. As part of that, it has a segment devoted to suggesting, with lies and innuendos from people who are not credible, that I had a role in the disappearance of my husband Don in 1997," Baskin wrote.
"The series presents this without any regard for the truth or in most cases even giving me an opportunity before publication to rebut the absurd claims. They did not care about truth. The unsavory lies are better for getting viewers," she added.
We had also shared how a sheriff in Florida is using the hype surrounding Netflix's new documentary 'Tiger King: Murder, Mayhem, and Madness' to find new leads in the cold case of Jack Donald 'Don' Lewis. He shared that his office is receiving around six tips every day.
"We are already receiving new tips and we hope to close this cold case soon with the help of the public," he told CNN. "Since the documentary came out we've been receiving about six tips a day related to this case. We are looking into each one thoroughly," he added.
