Joe Exotic begged Kim Kardashian for her help getting a presidential pardon from Donald Trump
Joe Exotic and Kim Kardashian (Getty)
Joe Exotic wrote a letter to Kim Kardashian pleading for her help obtaining a pardon from Donald Trump, it has been revealed.
The Tiger King star, who is currently who is currently serving a 22-year sentence in federal prison for murder for hire and animal abuse, has been aggressively lobbying for a pardon from the outgoing president after Trump said previously he may consider the prospect.
Associates of the reality star have spent $14,000 at a Trump-owned hotel in DC in a bid to get the attention of the president.
Exotic is now trying to get help from Kim Kardashian, who has previously convinced Trump to grant clemency and pardons to prisoners serving time for first-time drug offences.
Joe Exotic urges Kim Kardashian to ‘call president Trump’ and ask for pardon
In a letter to Kardashian shared by ET Canada, he writes: “I know you have never met me and may never want to however I do believe that you hold the values of our justice system dear to your heart.
“I am writing you this letter not as Joe Exotic but as the person Joseph Maldonado-Passage, asking you to please help me by just taking 10 minutes out of your life and placing a call to president Trump to look at my 257 page pardon – it’s all the evidence I’m innocent – and ask him to sign my pardon so I can return home to [my husband] Dillon [Passage] and my father.”
He continued: “I have lost 57 years of work, my zoo, my animals, my mother has died, my dad is dying and I’ve been taken away from my husband who I love dearly.
“Everyone is so busy making movies, getting interviews, selling stuff and dressing up like me that everyone forgot I’m a real live person in prison and kept from even telling my own story for something I didn’t do.”
Urging her to intervene, he adds: “No one even has to know you did it.”
Kim Kardashian West. (ANGELA WEISS/AFP via Getty)
Over the summer, the president’s son Donald Trump Jr suggested his father should pardon Joe Exotic “just for the meme”.
When asked during a coronavirus briefing whether he would consider pardoning Exotic, the president said he would “take a look” into the Oklahoma zoo owner’s case.
Donald Trump is expected to go on a pardon spree to help out his close associates
Outgoing presidents traditionally grant pardons among their last acts in office, with Barack Obama granting clemency to the whistleblower Chelsea Manning as he departed in 2016.
However, with so many of Trump’s associated currently under criminal investigation, the current president’s pardons list is rumoured to be significantly more expansive. The leader may even attempt to pardon himself in a bid to stave off future criminal charges.
Last week, it emerged that the justice department was investigating an alleged “bribery for pardon” scheme at the White House, after an individual offered “a substantial political contribution in exchange for a presidential pardon or reprieve of sentence”.
