The bizarre saga of “The Tiger King” Joe Exotic continues as he is now angling for a prisoner swap between him and former Mesa County Clerk Tina Peters, whom President Donald Trump has long sought to release from prison.
Typically, a prisoner swap happens between nations. In 2024, WNBA player Brittney Griner — who had been arrested by Russian officials on drug possession charges — was handed over to the U.S. in exchange for the U.S. releasing arms trafficker Viktor Bout back to Russia.
But Joe Exotic — real name Joseph Maldonado — is suggesting a swap between the state of Colorado and the federal government.
Maldonado is currently in year seven of a 21-year sentence after he was found guilty on 17 federal charges of animal abuse and two charges related to his scheme to hire a hitman to kill his rival, Carole Baskin. He has, in the past, begged Trump for a pardon, but one has never materialized.
On Wednesday, he tried something new; he sent a letter to Colorado Governor Jared Polis and other Colorado officials proposing that they trade Peters for him.
In his scheme, he would end up in Colorado custody, while Peters would end up in federal prison — and, presumably, put her in a position to receive a pardon from Trump, who cannot pardon state charges.
In 2024, Peters — a hardline Trump supporter — was sentenced to nine years after she was found guilty on seven charges relating to unauthorized access to election machines.
The email from Maldonado, sent to the officials, was on letterhead from the U.S. Department of Justice and the Federal Bureau of Prisons, according to The Grand Junction Daily Sentinel.
Maldonado’s email claims the Department of Justice is trying to “harm my reputation in an attempt to sway the jury by discriminating against my identity as LGBTQ and being married to a now deported Mexican man.”
“The Trump administration arrested me and convicted me to twenty-one years in Federal Prison, of which I have served eight. Unfortunately, I am now battling both Prostate and Lung Cancer. The new evidence we have which has been submitted to the United States Supreme Court shows not only that I’m innocent, but the DOJ witnesses who testified against me admitted to perjury on television throughout season two of ‘Tiger King,’” he wrote.
Maldonado then pitched the “craziest ask you will ever receive,” adding that it is “something that has never been done in American history.”
“I am confident that you will find it within you to coordinate with President Trump’s team to swap my clemency for Tina Peters’ clemency,” he wrote. “You will be a national hero. Your heroic actions will dominate the news and we will take back America with the evidence I have from inside the BOP (Bureau of Prisons) regarding the billions of dollars in illegal drug trafficking that transpires behind prison walls.”
Attached to the letter was a message of support for the measure by the Bureau of Prisons’ Keith Johnson. His letter of support for Maldonado’s scheme was reportedly also sent to Trump and U.S. Pardon Attorney Ed Martin on February 1.
Trump has previously called for Peters’ release — despite his ostensibly hardline stance on election security — and has demanded that Colorado release her into federal custody. Colorado’s refusal to do so drove Trump to say that he hopes Polis and Mesa County District Attorney Dan Rubenstein, himself a Republican, will “rot in Hell.”
U.S. laws do allow for state prisoners to be transferred into federal custody, pending federal approval, but the federal government cannot compel a state to turn over a prisoner into its custody.
The Independent has requested comment from Polis and the Colorado Department of Corrections.
