Tiger King star Joe Exotic has revealed that he's vying for a specific role in Donald Trump's administration, should the former president win this year's election.
As the Republican nominee, Trump is set to face off against Vice President Kamala Harris at the polls. His Democrat rival President Joe Biden announced in July that he would not be seeking reelection and endorsed Harris as his successor.
Exotic, whose real name is Joseph Allen Maldonado, is currently serving a 21-year prison sentence following his conviction in 2019 on multiple charges, including two counts of hiring hit men to murder wildlife activist and Tiger King co-star Carole Baskin. He was also convicted of violating the Lacey Act and the Endangered Species Act.
Speaking with Newsweek from FMC Fort Worth prison in Texas, Exotic, who is a critic of Harris, said that he is hoping Trump will pardon him should his reelection bid prove successful, as he would like to be a part of the former real estate mogul's cabinet.
"I want to be the director of the Fish and Wildlife Service," the TV personality told Newsweek during a phone conversation. "I can save this country several million dollars because it's over regulated. We're regulating animals that don't even belong in America. And the Endangered Species Act is something that I specialize in. I can almost recite it, word for word.
"You know, in 1973 the Endangered Species Act was written to protect the animals and the habitats of our land. Tigers, elephants, gorillas are not native to America. We don't have a native habitat for these animals. They are protected by the CITES treaties [Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora]. So they're already protected.
"America is spending billions and millions of dollars protecting animals that are already protected. So it's basically double jeopardy, protecting the same animal with more taxpayer money."
Exotic, who has spoken about briefly serving as the chief of police in Eastvale, Texas, originally announced that he would run for president as a Libertarian but switched to the Democratic Party weeks later. He has since suspended his campaign and thrown his support behind Trump, of whom he has been critical in the past.
The TV personality told Newsweek that his public declarations of support for Trump since stepping down should serve as proof that he's serious in his job pitch.
"You know, listening to my interviews, they know that I'm here," Exotic said of Trump's campaign team. "They know that I support him. They know that I don't agree with everything, which nobody is going to agree with everything.
"And they know that I would like to be in his cabinet as the director of the Federal Fish and Wildlife [Service]. I used to be a police chief, so I have law enforcement experience, and I could do the job, and I think I could do the job a whole lot cheaper and a whole lot better for the American people."
Newsweek has contacted a representative of Trump via email for comment.
While Exotic has grand career plans, he still has the issue of being granted a presidential pardon—something he claims he was on the verge of receiving from Trump until the January 6 Capitol riot in 2021. A mob of Trump supporters stormed the building in an attempt to stop Congress from certifying Biden's 2020 election win, which the former president has baselessly claimed was stolen from him.
Exotic told Newsweek that while his team had employed the use of "big buses and airplanes and everything else" to catch Trump's attention in 2020, the Netflix star was locked away from all of he buzz as he served out his sentence.
"I was in solitary confinement for those two years and eight months," he said. "I had no contact with the outside world and none of that bulls*** of driving to Washington with a big old bus that's painted, 'Please Pardon Joe Exotic.'
"Joe had nothing to do with that, because kissing butt is something I don't do. [Trump] supposedly had me on the pardon list, and then when January 6 happened, and he wouldn't pass the torch, he took the Air Force to Mar-a-Lago and [took], in my opinion, the cheap way out."
Citing claims from news pundits, Exotic said that Trump "didn't pardon a lot of people that [were] on that list... but I do think he might now that he's a victim of the same justice system that I am. I'm praying to God that he will take the time... and look at the evidence... If I don't win my appeal, I pray to God he does the right thing and pardons me, because I would like to be a part of his cabinet."
Trump has faced a host of legal issues since his term came to an end. In May, he was convicted on 34 felony counts of attempting to illegally manipulate the outcome of the 2016 presidential election, which he won, by falsifying business records to conceal potentially damaging "hush money" payments to p*rn star Stormy Daniels. Trump, who has denied any wrongdoing, is scheduled to be sentenced on September 18.
In an email exchange from FMC Fort Worth prison back in May, Exotic told Newsweek that he was a "political prisoner." He expressed doubt that Biden would ever pardon him, saying it was because of Harris' involvement in the Big Cat Public Safety Act. In April 2020, during the earlier stages of the COVID-19 pandemic, Harris suggested that those socially distancing "catch up on the Tiger King" before adding that she was a "cosponsor of the Big Cat Public Safety Act."
Signed into law in December 2022, the Big Cat Public Safety Act makes it illegal to privately possess or breed big cats to keep as exotic pets or for commercial purposes. The law prohibits public contact with these animals, including cubs.
The legislation also places new restrictions on the breeding, possession and use of certain big cat species, including for commerce, within the United States.
