No-go for Joe Exotic: Trump pardon list omits ‘Tiger King’

OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) — One name missing in President Donald Trump’s flurry of pardons is “Tiger King” Joe Exotic. The zookeeper-turned-reality-TV-star is now serving a 22-year federal prison sentence in Texas. His backers were so confident in a pardon that they readied a limousine and a hair and wardrobe team for Joe Exotic, whose real name is Joseph Maldonado-Passage. But he wasn’t on the list announced Wednesday morning. He was convicted for his role in a failed murder-for-hire plot targeting his rival, Carole Baskin, who runs a rescue sanctuary for big cats in Florida. He also was convicted of killing five tigers, selling tiger cubs and falsifying wildlife records. Maldonado-Passage has maintained his innocence.