In a Tuesday question-and-answer session on Facebook, Donald Trump Jr. revealed he spoke with his father, President Donald Trump , about pardoning Tiger King star Joe Exotic, who is imprisoned for trying to have animal rights activist Carole Baskin killed.
As reported by Raw Story , Trump Jr. noted the idea was first floated on the SiriusXM radio show of comedians Jim Norton and Sam Roberts. Afterward, it made its way into a press briefing, and finally, Trump Jr. said the possibility was discussed during a private phone call with the president.
“He actually called me late that night. He was still in the Oval Office and was like, ‘So what’s with this?’” Trump Jr. said.
“So, we had a couple of seconds before him sort of checking in and getting back to work, you know, he was fascinated.”
According to Trump Jr., the fascination may have come from a meme he posted. He believes that his father’s wife, Melania Trump, likely showed the president the image.
“It was like Donald Trump’s face with a Tiger King mullet, which was pretty epic.”
Trump previously suggested he would look into Exotic’s case after he was pressed about the possibility during last week’s Coronavirus Task Force press conference. After the president’s comment, a number of petitions have been started to secure Exotic’s early release, including one that has nearly 3,000 signatures out of its goal of 5,000, PopCulture reported.
Exotic, whose real name is Joseph Maldonado-Passage, wrote a letter to the president, asking him to look into the conviction, which centers around an alleged assassination plot as well as violations of the Endangered Species Act and the falsification of wildlife records.
“Here in America we use [sic] to take the swearing of Oath seriously to tell the truth,” the letter reads. “These days it means nothing to anyone, not even the Department of Justice or the U.S Attorney’s Office.”
Exotic said the trial he received was not about “truth” but a “win for the prosecutors.” He also claimed to be able to prove every alleged lie surrounding the case and accused the U.S Attorney’s Office of ignoring evidence that would have served “real justice.”
Erik Cowie, a zookeeper who worked at Exotic’s animal park and appeared in Tiger King , claimed Exotic deserves to stay in prison until death, Canoe reported. Saff, another former staffer at Exotic’s animal park, said she doesn’t believe he deserves to die in prison. However, she appeared to agree with the sentence and said she thinks justice had been served.
