U.S. President Donald Trump announced that he’s planning to pardon Todd and Julie Chrisley, best known for their reality show Chrisley Knows Best, which followed their tight-knit family and extravagant lifestyle that prosecutors said was boosted by bank fraud and hiding earnings from tax authorities.
In 2022, Todd was sentenced to 12 years in prison and his wife Julie was set to serve seven years behind bars after both were found guilty on charges of bank fraud, tax evasion and conspiring to defraud the U.S. Internal Revenue Service (IRS). Julie was additionally convicted of wire fraud and obstruction of justice.
The Chrisleys were each ordered to serve three years of supervised release after their prison sentences and were to pay US$17.8 million in restitution.
The couple conspired to defraud banks in the Atlanta area out of more than $30 million in loans by submitting false documents. They were also found guilty of tax evasion after obscuring their earnings while showcasing a luxurious way of living that authorities said included high-priced cars, designer clothes, real estate and travel.
Prosecutors said the Chrisleys walked away from their responsibility for repayment when Todd declared bankruptcy and left $20-plus million in unpaid loans.
“It’s a great thing because your parents are going to be free and clean and I hope that we can do it by tomorrow. Is that OK? We’ll try getting it done tomorrow,” Trump said in a call with their daughter, Savannah Chrisley, according to a video posted online by White House aide Margo Martin.
“I don’t know them but give them my regards and wish them a good life,” Trump said to Savannah on Tuesday.
“Thank you so much, Mr. President,” Savannah replied.
“They’ve been given a pretty harsh treatment based on what I’m hearing,” Trump said of the Chrisleys a few moments later.
In a social media post, the aide declared, “Trump Knows Best!”
Savannah took to X to celebrate the news, writing, “This moment is bigger than just my family…it’s about an administration that believes in second chances, that restores families, and that brings hope back to the American people.”
“To President Trump @realDonaldTrump and his team—thank you for believing in justice over vengeance. My fight was born out of love, but it was sustained by faith, truth, and the unshakable belief that our system should right its wrongs,” she added.
“To every child, spouse, and parent still fighting for their loved one—don’t stop. Your voice matters. Your story matters. And I’ll keep fighting for you, too.”
Savannah also took to Instagram after she received the phone call from Trump and shared details of the conversation in a video posted to her nearly three million followers.
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“The president called me personally as I was walking into Sam’s Club and notified me that he was signing pardon paperwork for both of my parents,” she said in the video, while wearing a gold Make America Great Again hat.
“So, both my parents are coming home tonight or tomorrow and I still don’t believe it’s real. I’m freaking out. The fact that the president called me, I will forever be grateful for President Trump, his administration and everyone along the way,” she said.
She added that she was preparing to pick up her parents and getting the house ready for their return.
“We’re getting some clothes together for mom and dad, getting their room put together upstairs, and I’m just speechless. I can’t thank you guys enough for sticking with my family along the way and for loving us and supporting us,” she added.
“My parents get to start their lives over,” Savannah continued. “President Trump didn’t just commute their sentences. He gave them a full, unconditional pardon. So for that I am forever grateful.
“Thank you, President Trump. I vow to stand next to you and your administration and exposing the corruption and continue fighting for the men and women that are in prison. I will repay your kindness to every person I meet. Thank God for a president like Donald J. Trump.”
Harrison Fields, the principal deputy press secretary and special assistant to Trump, confirmed the president’s plan to pardon the Chrisleys in a statement to The Hollywood Reporter.
“The President is always pleased to give well-deserving Americans a second chance, especially those who have been unfairly targeted and overly prosecuted by an unjust justice system,” Fields said. “President Trump called Savannah and her brother from the Oval Office to personally inform them that he would be pardoning their parents, Todd and Julie Chrisley, whose sentences were far too harsh.”
On Monday, Trump also pardoned Scott Jenkins, a former Virginia sheriff who was sentenced to 10 years in prison after being convicted on fraud and bribery charges. The president posted online that Jenkins and his family “have been dragged through HELL by a Corrupt and Weaponized Biden DOJ.”
Trump has also moved to pardon Paul Walczak, a Florida health-care executive imprisoned on tax charges, whose mother helped expose the contents of a diary kept by Ashley Biden, daughter of former president Joe Biden. And, in April, he pardoned Nevada Republican Michele Fiore, who was awaiting sentencing on federal charges that she used money meant for a statue honouring a slain police officer for personal costs, including plastic surgery.
The Chrisleys’ lawyer, Alex Little, said the pardon “corrects a deep injustice and restores two devoted parents to their family and community.”
“President Trump recognized what we’ve argued from the beginning: Todd and Julie were targeted because of their conservative values and high profile. Their prosecution was tainted by multiple constitutional violations and political bias,” Little said in a statement.
“Todd and Julie’s case is exactly why the pardon power exists. Thanks to President Trump, the Chrisley family can now begin healing and rebuilding their lives.”
Before the Chrisleys became reality television stars, they, and a former business partner, submitted false documents to banks in the Atlanta area to obtain fraudulent loans, prosecutors said during their trial. They accused the couple of spending lavishly, then using new fraudulent loans to pay off old ones.
A three-judge panel of the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals last summer upheld the Chrisleys’ convictions but found a legal error in how the trial judge had calculated Julie Chrisley’s sentence by holding her accountable for the entire bank fraud scheme. The appellate panel sent her case back to the lower court for resentencing.
Savannah spoke at the 2024 Republican National Convention, where she talked about her parents’ imprisonment. She said then that they were “persecuted by rogue prosecutors” — echoing Trump’s rhetoric about the criminal justice system as he faced investigations and criminal cases of his own.
She said Trump had been targeted for his politics, and said her parents likewise were targeted because of their conservative beliefs and high profile.
“I’ll never forget what the prosecutors said in the most heavily Democratic county in the state, before an Obama-appointed judge. He called us the ‘Trumps of the South,’” Savannah said in her remarks at the convention. “He meant it as an insult but, let me tell you, boy, do I wear it as a badge of honour.”
The news of the Chrisleys’ pardon comes one week after Lifetime announced the family’s return to reality TV with a new docuseries, titled The Untitled Chrisleys Project.
The new docuseries will be “pulling back the curtain” on the Chrisleys, with “unprecedented access to their lives in a deeply personal and dramatic new series.”
The family’s first show, titled Chrisley Knows Best, aired for 10 seasons from 2014 through 2023 and followed the tight-knit, boisterous family living in the Nashville area. Much of the series emphasized Todd’s obsessive yet comedic efforts to keep tabs on three of his kids, two of whom were in their 20s, and his mother.
The series had a spinoff called Growing Up Chrisley, featuring his kids Chase and Savannah, who moved to Los Angeles. It aired for four seasons after premiering in 2019. Todd also briefly hosted a talk show, According to Chrisley, for the network. Todd and Julie also had a podcast called Chrisley Confessions.
— With files from The Associated Press
