Joe Exotic Pens Letter to Trump Asking for Pardon and Cabinet Position

Joe Exotic is seeking help from a fellow convict.

Just days after Donald Trump’s electoral win against Vice President Kamala Harris, Joe reached out to the former in an attempt to secure a pardon. Joe — legal name Joseph Allen Maldonado-Passage — made his appeal in a letter obtained by Radar Online, saying he was “scared as hell” of a Harris presidency. 

“A lot of people went to bat for you in 2021 who have been living in hell ever since then,” the letter read. “Everyone hopes you keep the promises you made during your campaign, which include pardoning everyone sooner than later in January 2025. Some of those very people have been stuck in solitary confinement, forced to live like rats, have killed themselves in prison, or have died. Some, like myself, have fought like hell to hang on, hoping for you to win this election.”

Joe captured the cultural zeitgeist in 2020, when he appeared in the wildly popular docuseries Tiger King. The Netflix original explored Joe’s life as an eccentric zoo owner and his bitter feud with animal rights activist Carole Baskin. In 2019, Joe was arrested and sentenced to 20-plus years in prison for animal abuse and attempted murder-for-hire. The latter charge stemmed from an alleged murder plot directed at Baskin. Joe has repeatedly denied the allegations while calling for a retrial.

In 2021, Joe’s legal team called on Trump and his successor, President Joe Biden, to issue a pardon for their client. Although both attempts were unsuccessful, Joe hasn’t abandoned his fight for freedom.

Elsewhere in the letter, the 61-year-old felon expressed interest in joining Trump’s administration — specifically taking on the role of Federal Fish and Wildlife Director.

“It is time to bring some honesty to this department because the former director, Dan Ash, only looked out for himself and his position within the Association of Zoos and Aquariums,” Joe wrote. “(He used his federal position to put me out of business and in prison to benefit his non-profit, the AZA.)

“Hundreds of millions of dollars are being Wasted within this department, the Endangered Species Act of 1973 was written to protect the animals and their habitats on our lands,” he continued. “It was not meant to be used to create illegal monopolies, as it has been in the past, allowing only certain people to profit from this Act and putting their competitors out of business.”