There was a limo parked in a Texas parking lot on Tuesday night when “Tiger King” star Joe Exotic sat in prison waiting for a last-minute pardon from President Trump, according to local reports.
Exotic, whose real name is Joseph Maldonado-Passage, was so confident that he would receive a presidential extension that he booked the limo in advance, Fox 4 of Dallas-Fort Worth reported.
The station’s helicopter spotted the limo in his lawyer’s parking lot in Fort Worth.
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Maldonado-Passage was sentenced to 22 years in prison for his role in a murder plot for hire that targeted his main rival, Carole Baskin.
Eric Love, a private investigator working on the case, said in an interview with Metro Monday that the Maldonado-Passage team hoped to receive a pardon and “be celebrating” soon. Also available, according to Love, was a hairdresser and makeup artist, so that the former Tiger King could get ready before grabbing a fast food.
(Santa Rosa County Jail via AP)
The defense team has been lobbying for a presidential pardon for months.
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“If I ever admired someone, it would be you,” wrote Maldonado-Passage in a letter to the president in September. “Not because I need you to save my life, but because you stand up for what you believe in, no matter what others think.”
Fox News reported on Monday that Trump was considering between 50 and 100 last-minute commutations or pardons, according to two sources familiar with the situation. They were expected to be broadcast on Tuesday night or Wednesday morning.
Another figure who may receive clemency is rapper Lil Wayne, who pleaded guilty to a firearm charge.
The pardon for former Trump adviser Steve Bannon, who was arrested on charges of fraud over the summer, was described as “TBD” or to be determined.
WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange, who faces 18 spying charges and faces 175 years in prison, is not on the president’s list.
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Nor is Trump expected to give preventive pardons to his adult children or himself.
Alice Marie Johnson, who received a Trump who forgave himself for a life sentence on a federal drug charge, asked the president to use his last-minute forgiveness against nonviolent drug offenders in a recent interview with Fox News’ Martha MacCallum.
Kristin Fisher and Brooke Singman of Fox News contributed to this report.