Trump's absurd reason for pardoning Todd and Julie Chrisley

By NATASHA ANDERSON - SENIOR US & FOREIGN NEWS REPORTER 14:12 28 May 2025, updated 16:12 28 May 2025

President Donald Trump branded Todd and Julie Chrisley's sentences 'outrageous' and stated the reality stars 'don't look like terrorists' as he revealed to their MAGA darling daughter Savannah Chrisley her parents would be pardoned.

Trump announced on Tuesday that he would be pardoning the Chrisley Knows Best stars, who in 2022 were found guilty of federal charges of tax evasion and conspiring to swindle community banks.

Todd Chrisley was originally sentenced to 12 years in prison and Julie to seven. Both terms were later shortened.

The couple's influencer daughter Savannah, 27, has now revealed Trump told her how he believed her parents were 'treated unfairly' and that he 'wanted to give them a full pardon'.

'He was like, you know, 'You guys don't look like terrorists to me,'' Savannah told NewsNation's On Balance with Leland Vittert. 

'His exact words, which was pretty funny.'

A video recording of their phone call posted online by the White House only showed Trump telling Savannah: 'Your parents are going to be free and clean and I hope we can do it by tomorrow.'  

The Chrisley family has implored the Trump administration to release the reality TV  couple and last week Trump's daughter-in-law Lara Trump aired an interview with Savannah on her Fox News program. 

A White House official has claimed the pardons would be forthcoming. 

Savannah, discussing the shocking new with Vittert Tuesday night, revealed she was about to go shopping at Sam's Club when Trump called her.

'The president called me and I didn't know what to do,' she said, adding that she just 'ran back to her car at that point'.

She explained her family has spent the past 'two-and-a-half years' fighting for Todd and Julie's 'freedom'.

Savannah, describing her parents' sentences were 'absolutely insane', has claimed federal investigators violated the law throughout the case.

'I brought up in our case, the huge Fourth Amendment violations, the illegal seizures, the fact that they had my father's face on a dart board, the IRS agent lying on the stand and referring to us as the Trumps of the South, and also accusing my family of terrorism just so they could run a financial report,' she told NewsNation. 

Trump, according to Savannah, seemingly agreed.

'He just said that their sentences were outrageous and they were treated unfairly from everyone that he has spoken to,' she said.

'He wanted to bring my parents home and not just grant them a commutation, but he wanted to give them a full pardon well, and that means that it like it never happened.' 

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.

Prosecutors had said the two submitted false bank statements and other documents to obtain millions in personal loans from Atlanta area community banks before they became became TV stars, and spent the money on luxury cars, designer clothes, real estate and travel. 

Prosecutors also said the couple walked away from their responsibility for repayment when Todd  declared bankruptcy and left $20-plus million in unpaid loans. 

A three-judge panel of the 11th US Circuit Court of Appeals last summer upheld the Chrisleys' convictions but found a legal error in how the trial judge had calculated Julie'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.

The Chrisleys' attorney, Alex Little, said Trump's 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,' Little said in a statement. 

'Their prosecution was tainted by multiple constitutional violations and political bias.'

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.'

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, adding, 'He meant it as an insult but, let me tell you, boy, do I wear it as a badge of honor.'

Ten seasons of Chrisley Knows Best, portraying Todd as a real estate tycoon and patriarch of a wealthy family in the Atlanta area, aired between 2014 and 2023. 

Four seasons of the spinoff show Growing Up Chrisley were broadcast between 2019 and 2022. 

Trump's move to pardon the Chrisleys continues a pattern of him pardoning high-profile friends, supporters, donors and former staffers. 

On Monday, he 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.