WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump announced Tuesday that he’s planning to pardon TV stars Todd and Julie Chrisley, famous for “Chrisley Knows Best,” a reality show that followed their tight-knit family and extravagant lifestyle that prosecutors said was boosted by bank fraud and hiding earnings from tax authorities.
The Chrisleys were convicted in 2022 of conspiring 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, 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 couple walked away from their responsibility for repayment when Todd Chrisley declared bankruptcy and left $20-plus million in unpaid loans. Julie Chrisley was sentenced to seven years in federal prison, and Todd Chrisley got 12 years behind bars. The couple was also ordered to pay $17.8 million in restitution.
“Your parents are going to be free and clean and I hope that we can do it by tomorrow,” Trump said in a call with their daughter, Savannah Chrisley, according to a video posted online by a White House aide. In a social media post, the aide declared, “Trump Knows Best!”
“They’ve been given a pretty harsh treatment based on what I’m hearing,” the president added a few moments later of the couple.
A White House official, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss decisions that hadn't yet been made public, said the pardons would be forthcoming.
The move continues a pattern of Trump pardoning high-profile friends, supporters, donors and former staffers. On Monday, Trump 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.”
The president 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 honoring a slain police officer for personal costs, including plastic surgery.
The Chrisleys’ attorney, 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.
Little's statement added, “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 Chrisley 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 Chrisley said in her remarks at the convention, adding, “He meant it as an insult but, let me tell you, boy, do I wear it as a badge of honor.”
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Associated Press writer Michelle L. Price contributed.
