The “Tiger King” has a warning about the realities of hard time for Donald Trump, who judges could potentially sentence to hundreds of years in prison if the former president is convicted on some or all of the 91 felony charges he faces across four indictments.
“He should know the food sucks, the medical care is pathetic … and if you're lucky you will find a decent man to fall in love with to look out for you! And then when you have the power again you might fix it all,” wrote Joe Exotic — real name Joseph Maldonado — in a hand-written response to an August letter that Raw Story sent to the Federal Medical Center, Fort Worth. Maldonado is serving a 21-year sentence at the Fort Worth, Texas federal prison for two counts of murder-for-hire related to alleged plans to kill his big cat rescue foe, Carole Baskin.
Maldonado also warned Trump of drugs, prison gang extortion and how “everyone is apt to sexual assault you.”
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Like Trump, Maldonado is running for president in the 2024 race. By contrast, Trump is the dominant frontrunner for the Republican nomination, and Maldonado — who is best known as the star of the 2020 Netflix hit series “Tiger King: Murder, Mayhem and Madness” — is a miles-away longshot as he is running as a Democratic candidate from federal prison.
But given Trump’s legal woes, Maldonado’s experience behind bars is — if nothing else — instructive. The possibility of Trump running a campaign from jail or prison isn’t completely out of the realm of possibility as he faces two federal trials involving the retention of classified documents and alleged investment in 2020 election interference. Trump’s two state-level cases involve business fraud charges in New York and an alleged election interference scheme in Georgia.
Maldonado decried what he described as a two-tier justice system: one for the likes of Trump and his indicted co-conspirators, and another for people such as himself.
“I respect him, but it's time him and others get tried by the same system every taxpayer does,” Maldonado wrote. “None of the 19 people indicted got the same justice we do. We all are chained in shackles, put in an orange jumpsuit made to look guilty during our bond hearings and held without bond!”
READ: Why Trump and the GOP are burning the entire system down
Maldonado continued, “They all got the rich treatment. If he is convicted, he should go to prison and live the way we do and go through the slow ass system on appeals and motions.”
In addition to being imprisoned for murder-for-hire, Maldonado is also serving time for 17 other crimes, including violations of a law prohibiting illegal wildlife trading. He also owes Baskin $814,465 from a legal judgment against him, per his public financial disclosure report, Raw Story reported.
Maldonado said his presidential platform includes “term limits on all politicians and federal judges,” and five-year-minimum prison sentences for “any politician or federal agent that violates their oath of office” in order to “clean the corruption.” American should produce its own coal, oil and gas — doing so “cleaner than the countries we buy it from,” he said.
“I'm running as a Democrat because first someone has to become a new style of Democrat that meets in the middle like pro choice and pro 2nd amendment and tuff [sic] on violent crime but not so harsh on nonviolent offenders except sex offenders. Our prisons are over full of small time drug offenders while sex offenders and violent criminals go home first,” Maldonado wrote on lined notebook paper with erratic capitalization. “My voters need to understand what has happened to me can happen to them and I am nothing more than a political prisoner for the Big Cat Safety Act.”
Maldonado had hoped for a pardon from Trump before Trump left office in January 2021. Maldonado’s private investigator waited in a limo outside the federal medical facility where he is serving his sentence in the hopes that Maldonado would be released, CBS reported. Maldonado was diagnosed with prostate cancer in 2021, CNN reported.
“Biden would be stupid not to pardon me. If Trump would have before the election in 2020 he would not be in trouble because he would not have needed to call and find more votes,” Maldonado wrote. “Millions of my fans of all races would vote for whoever makes this wrong right.”
Maldonado isn’t registering in polls about the Democratic primary, where President Joe Biden is dominating with 76 percent of the vote, according to Morning Consult. The Joseph Maldonado to Free America campaign committee had $1,369.89 on hand as of September 30, according to a Federal Election Commission report.
Trump has 61 percent of potential Republican primary voters supporting him, according to Morning Consult’s Oct. 2 survey. The Donald J. Trump for President 2024 campaign committee reported more than $22.5 million cash on hand on its most recent report to the Federal Election Commission.
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Read the full letter transcript:
Alexandria
Hi thank you for contacting me.
I am out of solitary. September 7 makes 5 years now I have been in prison.
Just trying to get a new trial, I’ve been in solitary for 2 years and 8 months. I will never mentally be the same, it is criminal what has been done to me by federal staff.
The big question is why am I still here when Allen Glover and all of the government witnesses admitted to perjury and a plot to kill me? Their depositions are at JoeExotic2024.com/evidence.
And why won't Fox or CNN cover the fact this proves I'm innocent?
It is hard to campaign from here. They keep my phone and email restricted and refuse to let me do interviews on camera because the DOJ does not want the truth out there. The BOP is as corrupt as the DOJ and if you ever want to do a real story how our government treats federal prisons worse than animals you should contact my agent JT at [redacted] and he can show you the proof but it must be in person or you will put my life in danger. But it would be worth your time to see JT.
I'm running as a Democrat because first someone has to become a new style of Democrat that meets in the middle like pro choice and pro 2nd amendment and tuff on violent crime but not so harsh on nonviolent offenders except sex offenders. Our prisons are over full of small time drug offenders while sex offenders and violent criminals go home first.
My voters need to understand what has happened to me can happen to them and I am nothing more than a political prisoner for the Big Cat Safety Act.
We must start providing our own oil, gas and coal. We can do it cleaner than the countries we buy it from while saving our environment and ecosystems. We have to stop putting wind farms and oil rigs in our ocean!
I am for letting agriculture providers go back to selling to your neighbors. If you want to buy milk and eggs from your neighbor that should be your right.
We must stop paying to fix other countries culture problems and take care of our homeless, vets, mentally ill.
But I want term limits on all politicians and federal judges.
Clean the corruption by a 5 year min. prison sentence for any politician or federal agent that violates their oath of office.
Yes, I keep up with Trump. I respect him, but it's time him and others get tried by the same system every taxpayer does.
None of the 19 people indicted got the same justice we do. We all are chained in shackles, put in an orange jumpsuit made to look guilty during our bond hearings and held without bond!
They all got the rich treatment. If he is convicted, he should go to prison and live the way we do and go through the slow ass system on appeals and motions; I've waited 16 months for a motion for a new trial and the judge refuses to answer it because the DOJ knows I'm innocent but they need to keep that 98% conviction rate.
Trump can pardon himself from federal prison and if convicted I don't see him going to prison but if he does, he should know the food sucks, the medical care is pathetic, the staff are the drug dealers, the gangs extort you, everyone is apt to sexual assault you and if you're lucky you will find a decent man to fall in love with to look out for you! And then when you have the power again you might fix it all.
Biden would be stupid not to pardon me. If Trump would have before the election in 2020 he would not be in trouble because he would not have needed to call and find more votes.
Millions of my fans of all races would vote for whoever makes this wrong right.
- Joe Exotic
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