'Another Corrupt Pardon': Trump Pardons Reality TV Stars Convicted of Tax Evasion and Bank Fraud
"It appears Trump is no longer concerned about appearances or the pretense of propriety. He's corrupting the pardon process," wrote one MSNBC political contributor on Tuesday.
U.S. President Donald Trump on Wednesday reportedly signed full pardons for Todd and Julie Chrisley, reality TV stars known for the program "Chrisley Knows Best," who were convicted in 2022 of evading taxes and financial fraud to prop up their luxurious lifestyles.
Todd and Julie Chrisley were sentenced to 12 and seven years in federal prison, respectively, in 2022. The charges brought against them included conspiring to defraud banks in the Atlanta area in order to get ahold of over $36 million in personal loans. "The Chrisleys spent the money on luxury cars, designer clothes, real estate, and travel—and used new fraudulent loans to pay back old ones," according to a 2022 release from the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Northern District of Georgia. Both of the Chrisleys have maintained their innocence, according to CNN.
Citing an unnamed White House official, CNN reported Wednesday that Trump has signed pardons for them, though as of mid-day the pardons are still not listed on the Department of Justice's website.
On Tuesday, Trump's communications adviser, Margo Martin, posted a video on X that showed Trump making a phone call to the Chrisleys' daughter, Savannah Chrisley, letting her know of his plans to grant pardons for her parents. In the video, Trump says that "it's a great thing because your parents are going to be free and clean, and hopefully we can do it by tomorrow."
Reacting to the news about the Chrisleys, Steve Benen, an MSNBC political contributor and producer for "The Rachel Maddow Show," argued on Wednesday that in his first term, Trump "wielded his pardon power as a corrupt weapon," but many of his eye-brow raising pardon actions took place after he lost in the 2020 election.
"But as his second term gets underway, it appears Trump is no longer concerned about appearances or the pretense of propriety. He's corrupting the pardon process; he knows that he's corrupting the pardon process; he knows that we know that he's corrupting the pardon process; and he's doing it anyway," Benen wrote. "The president seems eager to act with impunity, confident in the knowledge that a Republican-led Congress will shrug its shoulders with indifference."
The X account Republicans against Trump blasted the move on Tuesday, calling it "another corrupt pardon."
Trump began his second term with multiple high-profile clemency actions, including issuing pardons and commutations for over 1,500 rioters convicted in connection to the January 6 insurrection at the Capitol and pardoning Silk Road founder Ross Ulbricht.
More recently, Trump in April pardoned Florida healthcare executive Paul Walczak, who was recently sentenced to over a year in prison stemming from tax crimes that he pleaded guilty to.
In Walczak's pardon application, submitted last fall, he argued that his criminal prosecution was motivated more by his mother's support of Trump, including her financial support for Trump's campaigns, rather than the crimes he had admitted to, according to The New York Times. The outlet also reported that Walczak's mother, Elizabeth Fago, attended a fundraiser at Trump's Mar-a-Lago club last month that was a $1-million-per-person dinner. Weeks later, Trump pardoned Walczak.
Savannah Chrisley has spoken publicly to highlight her parents' case.
Savannah Chrisley spoke at the Republican National Convention in 2024 and suggested that her parents were targeted because prosecutors had some sort of political agenda. "My family was persecuted by rogue prosecutors in Fulton County due to our public profile—I know, Fulton County, they know how to do it, don't they—due to our public profile and conservative beliefs," Chrisley said. According to The Washington Post, she also went to the White House in February to make the case for their pardons.
