'No one even has to know you did it': Joe Exotic wrote Kim Kardashian a letter begging her to ask Trump to pardon him
- Joe Exotic wrote a letter to Kim Kardashian asking for help securing a pardon from President Donald Trump.
- The "Tiger King" subject has maintained his innocence while serving a 22-year prison sentence for murder-for-hire and animal abuse.
- Eric Love, an attorney for Exotic, says he's tried multiple ways to get Trump's attention, including setting up a meeting with Donald Trump Jr. that fell through and booking rooms at the Trump hotel in Washington, DC.
- A spokesperson for Trump Jr. said, "Don is completely unaware of any of this and hasn't spent any time thinking about Joe Exotic."
- Read Exotic's letter to Kardashian-West, as well as Love's letter to Trump, below.
Joe Exotic is asking for Kim Kardashian West's help getting President Donald Trump to pardon him while he serves his 22-year prison sentence.
"Please help me get President Trump to see this is all wrong and not only sign my pardon," he wrote to Kardashian West, adding: "I have lost 57 years of work, my zoo, my animals, my mother has died, my dad is dying, and I have been taken away from my husband who I love dearly."
Exotic, whose real name is Joseph Maldonado-Passage, was sentenced to 22 years in prison in January after he was found guilty of two counts of murder-for-hire and 17 counts of animal abuse.
His case became widely known after the release of the Netflix documentary "Tiger King: Murder, Mayhem and Madness" in March, which detailed his zoo management and various legal travails.
Exotic maintains his innocence and a team of attorneys labeled "Team Tiger" have been seeking a pardon from President Donald Trump for months.
Kardashian West has championed criminal justice reform and has persuaded Trump to pardon several people she believes were wrongfully convicted.
"Will you please help me with just a phone call? No one even has to know you did it," Exotic wrote in his letter.
Eric Love, an attorney representing Exotic, told Insider they sought her help because of her past work with Trump, and because she appears to be "a huge Team Tiger fan," referencing Exotic with her family's Halloween costumes this year.
The letter to Kardashian West, dated November 4, is one of many routes Love, the leader of Team Tiger, has engineered to bring the case to Trump's attention.
He and two other attorneys working for Exotic paid $15,000 of their own money to stay at the Trump International Hotel in Washington, DC, in May, he said. They drove a bus that read "President Trump please pardon Joe Exotic" around the White House perimeter.
Exotic himself has also written letters to Trump and Donald Trump Jr., who Love said was a fan of the Netflix show. TMZ initially reported the existence of those letters.
Love claims that Exotic is "totally innocent" and that, if he's released from prison, he could be an advocate for criminal justice reform.
"Joe was targeted just like the president's been targeted and folks in his administration," Love said. "We know that President Trump knows who we are. We literally are just waiting for the ink to hit the paper."
Exotic's letter also references the various interviews and media projects in the work from other people involved in Exotic's story. Exotic says he wants to tell his own story.
"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," he wrote.
Love said his team hasn't yet received a response from Kardashian West. Representatives for Kardashian West didn't immediately respond to Insider's request for comment.
Love also shared with Insider a letter he wrote to President Donald Trump requesting a pardon. It references a 257-page pardon filed with the Justice Department's Office of the Pardon Attorney.
Love says the filing demonstrates that Exotic was the target of a conspiracy from Amanda Green, a federal prosecutor in the case, and Matt Bryant, a federal agent.
"Team Tiger has uncovered evidence that a federal prosecutor and federal agent conspired against Joe Exotic," Love wrote. "They suppressed evidence, tampered with the jury, witness intimidation, tainted the jury, tampered with evidence in order to conspire and convict."
A White House spokesperson declined to comment.
Green is now a magistrate judge at the same federal courthouse where Exotic was convicted.
Team Tiger is trying to get through to Trump through Donald Trump Jr.
Love has gone to great lengths to meet with Donald Trump Jr., believing he may be sympathetic to their case and would be an effective channel to the president.
He told Insider he had a meeting scheduled with Trump Jr. in early October that fell through after his father was infected with COVID-19.
"We know that Don Jr. is a fan of the show," Love told Insider. "So obviously we're going to loop him into it as well. And we feel that Don Jr. has a really close relationship with his dad."
A spokesperson for Donald Trump Jr. denied any such meeting was scheduled.
"Don is completely unaware of any of this and hasn't spent any time thinking about Joe Exotic," the spokesperson told Insider.
Exotic wrote a letter to Trump Jr. in July and posted it on his Facebook page. Trump Jr. said in April that his sentence seemed "aggressive" but that he was unfamiliar with the details of the case.
Presidents generally dispense pardons shortly before leaving office to deflect from political blowback. Trump's term ends on January 20.
Last week, Trump pardoned Michael Flynn, his former National Security Adviser who pleaded guilty to lying to the FBI. According to Axios, Trump may dispense mass pardons "like Christmas gifts" to political allies.
Trump was asked earlier this year about a pardon for Exotic and said he would "take a look."
Kim Kardashian West has also seemed to focus her energies elsewhere.
On Wednesday, she asked President Donald Trump to commute a sentence for Brandon Bernard, who's scheduled to be executed for a crime he committed as a teenager.
- Read more:
- Joe Exotic's lawyer thinks he's 'very, very close' to getting a presidential pardon from Trump
- Joe Exotic and Jeff Lowe respond to Carole Baskin gaining control of the 'Tiger King' zoo: 'Without our efforts, it is well known that Carole would no longer be here'
- A volunteer at Carole Baskin's Big Cat Rescue was left seriously injured after being bitten by a tiger
- 'The cub was lethargic, depressed, and thin': Justice Department files complaint against 'Tiger King' star Jeffrey Lowe alleging violations of the Endangered Species Act and the Animal Welfare Act