President Donald Trump said, perhaps jokingly, he would look into a request for a pardon for Joseph Maldonaldo, whose case has increased awareness amid the Netflix series "Tiger King."
"I know nothing about it," Trump told reporters at the White House daily press briefing Wednesday. "He has 22 years for what? What did he do?"
Maldonaldo is serving a 22-year sentence in prison for convictions related to animal abuse and murder-for-hire of an animal rights activist.
Donald Trump Jr., the president's eldest child, had joked he would lobby for a presidential pardon just to see the mainsteam media's reaction. President Trump said he had not spoken to his son about it.
"I'll take a look," Trump said, then turned to ask CNN's Trump antagonist Jim Acosta if he would recommend a pardon.
"Is that Joe exotic? That's Joe Exotic."
Eric Mack ✉
Eric Mack has been a writer and editor at Newsmax since 2016. He is a 1998 Syracuse University journalism graduate and a New York Press Association award-winning writer.
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