Tiger King’s Joe Exotic says he is turning to President Donald Trump for clemency after the Supreme Court declined to hear his appeal.
The former zoo operator and reality television figure Joe Exotic said in a Thursday, April 2, 2026, phone interview with The Dallas Express from a federal prison in Fort Worth that he is pursuing both additional legal filings and a direct appeal to Donald Trump after the Supreme Court of the United States denied review of his case.
Exotic, whose legal name is Joseph Maldonado-Passage, said his attorneys had warned the odds were low given the high volume of petitions filed each term. “They said that there’s 8,000 to 10,000 appeals… and only 1% of them get heard,” he said.
Despite the setback, Exotic said his legal team is preparing another filing while simultaneously pressing for executive clemency. He said he has assembled a high-profile legal team and believes his petition is already under consideration.
“I’ve got a clemency on the desk at the White House,” Exotic said. “They actually called the prison here a few months ago and got an update on me. So they’re at least looking at it.”
Exotic added that prison officials informed him of the inquiry directly. “The counselor called me in and showed me the email where the U.S. pardon attorney at the White House emailed and wanted to get a status update on me,” he said, adding that the official responding to the inquiry noted his disciplinary record and coursework while incarcerated.
The Bureau of Prisons told The Dallas Express in an email, “For privacy, safety, and security reasons, we do not comment on the conditions of confinement for any incarcerated individual, including programming and disciplinary records, or internal correspondence.”
The spokesman also said that prison policies “explicitly prohibits all staff from providing preferential treatment to any inmate.”
White House officials told The Dallas Express on background that, “No one at the White House made any requests nor has the White House received a clemency request from Joe Exotic. The President is the ultimate decider on any potential clemency requests.” The official directed DX to contact the Department of Justice.
The Department of Justice did not respond to a request for comment before publication.
Exotic framed his appeal to Trump around his age, health, and claims about his conviction. “President Trump, I’m 63 years old. I’m battling two different types of cancer,” he said. He also challenged the credibility of some of the witnesses used against him at trial and said their testimony has since been undermined.
Federal prosecutors have previously defended the conviction, and courts have upheld it on appeal.
Exotic said there is no parole option in the federal system, leaving clemency or a pardon as his primary avenues for early release. His projected release date is in 2030, he said.
He also pointed to what he described as signs of public support and argued that granting clemency could benefit the administration politically. “You would think President Trump… could use some positive press right now,” he said.
Beyond his legal efforts, Exotic outlined plans if released, including returning to charity work and advocating for prison reform. He said he hopes to work with organizations like Operation Smile and “fix 5,000 little kids’ faces.”
Operation Smile is a charity that helps children with cleft lips, according to the organization’s website.
He also said he would seek to testify before Congress about conditions in federal prisons, which he criticized throughout the interview, and suggested he might again consider running for public office.
Exotic further said he hopes to reunite with his husband, who was deported to Mexico, and pursue legal pathways to bring him back to the United States.
“Please sign my clemency and let me go save my husband and bring him back to America the proper way,” he said, addressing Trump directly.
The Netflix star is currently incarcerated at the Federal Medical Facility in Fort Worth, Texas. He is serving a 21-year sentence for conspiracy to commit murder-for-hire against his rival, Carole Baskin, violations of the Lacey Act, and other offenses.
Exotic partly grew up in Pilot Point in Denton County.
The Dallas Express previously covered his plans to marry a fellow inmate and illegal alien, Jorge Marquez Flores, while both were in federal custody.
Marquez was subsequently deported after completing his prison sentence, DX reported.
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