President Trump says he will fully pardon Todd and Julie Chrisley, reality TV personalities who have served more than two years in prison after being convicted of funding their lavish lifestyle through tax evasion and bank fraud.
Prosecutors said they conspired to defraud community banks in the Atlanta area to take out more than $36 million in personal loans. They spent the money on luxury cars, designer clothes, real estate and travel and used new fraudulent loans to pay back old ones. They said the Chrisleys failed to pay taxes for the 2013, 2014, 2015 and 2016 tax years.
"Over the course of a decade, the defendants defrauded banks out of tens of millions of dollars while evading payment of their federal income taxes," then-U.S. Attorney Ryan Buchanan said at the time, adding that their "lengthy sentences reflect the magnitude of their criminal scheme."
The Chrisleys have denied the charges and claimed they were unfairly targeted because of their conservative beliefs. Their oldest daughter, Savannah, has become an outspoken critic of the criminal justice system since her parents' incarceration.
She spoke onstage at the Republican National Convention in July, calling her parents victims of political persecution. After Trump took office, she told People that she was "going through the proper channels" to try to get them pardoned, and had lunch at the White House in February.
Those efforts seem to have paid off. On Tuesday, White House special assistant Margo Martin tweeted a video of Trump calling Savannah from the Oval Office to inform her of her parents' pardons.
Trump has pardoned a number of high-profile supporters in the early months of his second term, starting with hundreds of Jan. 6 rioters.
In February, he pardoned disgraced former Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich, who was convicted of corruption-related crimes in 2011. Trump commuted Blagojevich's 14-year sentence during his first term. Blagojevich attended the 2024 Republican National Convention in support of Trump, whom he called "the most demonized political figure in American history — and I know something about being demonized."
In March, Trump pardoned former Tennessee state Sen. Brian Kelsey, who was two weeks into a 21-month prison sentence for an illegal campaign finance scheme (which he pleaded guilty to in 2022 but later tried unsuccessfully to rescind).
"May God bless America, despite the prosecutorial sins it committed against me, President Trump, and others the past four years," Kelsey said after receiving the full pardon.
In April, Trump pardoned Michele Fiore, a former Las Vegas city councilwoman and former Republican state lawmaker who was awaiting sentencing on federal wire fraud charges. Fiore, a loyal Trump supporter, was accused of using money meant to honor a slain police officer for her personal expenses, including cosmetic surgery, rent and her daughter's wedding.
And just this week, on Monday, Trump announced a pardon for Scott Jenkins, a former Virginia sheriff who was found guilty of accepting over $75,000 in bribes in exchange for appointing multiple businessmen as auxiliary deputy sheriffs in his Culpeper County department. He was sentenced to 10 years in federal prison in March, and was reportedly due to report to prison on Tuesday.
The conservatives on Reddit seem pretty fucking confused about this, at least.
How? How could you possibly be surprised by this AT ALL? Disingenuous fucks.
Because they have no clue what they've actually voted for. They apply whatever their values happen to be to Trump and when he doesn't do what they'd assume they freak out until they can make up an explanation.
Ok but who fucking does that? Rhetorical question... It's just so frustrating.