Joe Exotic’s legal team has meeting and plan in place as they make the final push to get the Tiger King star pardoned by President Donald Trump before he leaves office.
The group – lead by Eric Love – is set to fly to Washington DC next Wednesday, January 6 for a ‘high level’ meeting regarding their pardon petition according to TMZ on Thursday.
The publication claims that Love knows how to stroke the 45th US president’s ego as on that day the House of Representatives will vote to ratify Joe Biden as the next president while Trump, 74, is planning a rally.
Tiger King: Joe Exotic’s legal team has meeting and plan in place as they make the final push to get the Tiger King star pardoned by President Donald Trump before he leaves office according to TMZ, as he is seen in August 2013
On the way out: The publication claims that Love knows how to stroke the 45th US president’s ego as on that day the House of Representatives will vote to ratify Joe Biden as the next president while Trump, 74, is planning a rally
According to their insiders, there is buzz that the commander-in-chief may pardon several people on January 6 to serve as a distraction so the vote does not get the normal attention.
This comes just a week after Exotic filed court documents dismissing his pardon lawsuit after learning that his request has been received by the president.
The 57-year-old star of the Netflix series Tiger King last week sued the US Justice Department for rejecting his official pardon request claiming it wasn’t valid because his petition wasn’t presented directly to Trump.
The so-called Tiger King, real name Joseph Maldonado-Passage, withdrew his complaint after learning Trump had received his petition, according to an article by TMZ.
Interesting timing: This comes just a week after Exotic filed court documents dismissing his pardon lawsuit after learning that his request has been received by the president
Lawyers for Maldonado-Passage in their six-page complaint had accused Acting Pardon Attorney Rosalind Sargent-Burns of not forwarding on the formal request while claiming that she was required to do so.
The complaint also named Donald Trump Jr., 42, as a supporter.
‘Many people have come out and publicly expressed their disagreement with Joe Exotic’s conviction and subsequent sentence. Among those, are members of the president’s own family. Donald Trump Junior has been an advocate for Joe Exotic to be pardoned’, the complaint said, according to the New York Post.
Maldonado-Passage is serving a 22-year prison sentence for plotting to kill big-cat rights activist Carole Baskin, 59.
Request received: US President Donald Trump, shown in November at the White House, has received the request for a pardon from Joseph Maldonado-Passage aka the Tiger King
He also was convicted in 2019 of eight counts of violating the Lacey Act for falsifying wildlife records, and nine counts of violating the Endangered Species Act.
Maldonado-Passage has reached out to reality star Kim Kardashian, 40, for help in reaching Trump.
In September, he wrote the president a letter pleading for an early release from prison while his representatives spent around $10,000 at Trump’s Washington, DC, hotel in a bid to help his cause.
Netflix star: The Netflix documentary Tiger King aired in March amid the coronavirus pandemic and became one of the most watched shows on the streaming service
Earlier this year, Trump said he would consider issuing a pardon for Maldonado-Passage, after his son Donald Trump Jr. brought the case to him.
‘I’ll take a look,’ he told reporters in April.
Trump issued a slew of pardons and commutations on Tuesday benefiting former members of Congress convicted of corruption charges, two people charged in the Russia investigation that shadowed his presidency and four former government contractors convicted in a 2007 massacre in Baghdad that left more than a dozen Iraqi civilians dead.
Supporters of the former contractors at Blackwater Worldwide had lobbied for the pardons, arguing that the men had been excessively punished in an investigation and prosecution they said was tainted. All four were serving lengthy prison sentences.
The Blackwater firm was founded by Erik Prince, an ally of Trump and the brother of Education Secretary Betsy DeVos. It has since been renamed.
Final days: Trump, shown earlier this month in the White House,issued a slew of pardons and commutations on Tuesday benefiting former members of Congress convicted of corruption charges, two people charged in the Russia investigation that shadowed his presidency and four former government contractors convicted in a 2007 massacre in Baghdad that left more than a dozen Iraqi civilians dead