Latest news with #TrumpsoftheSouth
New York Post
5 days ago
- Politics
- New York Post
How Savannah Chrisley buddied up with the Trumps and helped secure freedom for her parents
Shortly after Julie and Todd Chrisley were sent to federal prison in Nov. 2022, their daughter Savannah took a gamble. She 'came out' as a Republican and started to publicly cozy up to the Trump family as part of her strategy to free her mom and dad, sentenced to seven and 12 years respectively for bank and tax fraud of over $30m in loans. This week it was finally realized as President Trump pardoned them both and they are already back at home with their family. 7 Savannah Chrisley appears to be the mastermind behind her parents' presidential pardon. AP However, that dream was still distant in September 2023 when Savannah, 27, appeared on Lara Trump's 'The Right View' podcast to talk about her parents' plight and prison reform. She made sure to mention how Fulton County, Georgia, prosecutors started her parents' trial by calling them the 'Trumps of the South' — a line she would go on to repeat many times while campaigning for their release. She added to Lara, wife of Eric Trump: 'For me that was, it should scare people, that we have prosecutors using such a polarizing statement to potentially sway the jurors.' Savannah was also honest about being new to prison reform, telling the host: 'I'm like the poster child for being tone-deaf to our [prison] system. It didn't affect me, why should I care? And then, as my parents are in there and they start telling me these things, I'm like, wait a second, it's 115 degrees and you have no air conditioning.' 7 Todd and Julie Chrisley were both released from prison on Wednesday, thanks to their daughter's advocacy. Getty Images for ACM 7 Savannah Chrisley appeared on Lara Trump's podcast in September 2023. The Right View Judging by their interactions on the podcast, it appeared to be the first time the ladies had spoken with each other. Getting Savannah on the show was also quite a big score for Lara's podcast, which has a following of 28,000 on Instagram, far less than Savannah's own podcast which has 156,000 followers and gets an average of around 100,000 more views on YouTube per show than 'The Right View.' From there the two ladies seem to have formed a strong bond, and Savannah became one of the more prominent celebrity voices behind then-candidate Trump. She started donning pink MAGA hats and putting her political views to her almost three million personal Instagram followers, which she says resulted in 'lost deals' from sponsors. 7 Savannah Chrisley appears to have visited the White House twice this year. Savannah Chrisley/ Instagram She then appeared at the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee in July 2024, where her speech focused on the 'injustices' her parents suffered in prison and the 'inhumane' treatment they had been subject to, which was later hailed as 'powerful'. Savannah appeared alongside Lara again at a Women for Trump rally in Phoenix in October 2024 and earlier this month their relationship went full circle as she appeared on Fox's 'My View with Lara Trump' to again speak about prison reform. She followed that appearance up with an Instagram post calling Lara 'my sweet friend.' Savannah also appears to have visited the White House twice during the Trump presidency, in March and in April, while she golfed at Trump National Golf Club in Palm Beach, Florida, in May. 7 President Trump personally called Savannah Chrisley to inform her about the pardon on Tuesday. Savannah Chrisley/ Instagram 7 President Trump pardoned Todd and Julie Chrisley, who were convicted of plotting to defraud banks. Savannah Chrisley/ Instagram Now her parents have been freed, others in their orbit say they hope the Chrisleys will continue their fight on behalf of the incarcerated and wrongly convicted. 'Savannah presents herself as an advocate for prison reform, but time will tell if her advocacy is real or limited to advocating only for her parents,' Peter Tarantino, the family's accountant who was convicted alongside Julie and Todd, but not pardoned, told The Post. Tarantino, who was sentenced to three years and paid a $35,000 fine, added 'I absolutely deserve a pardon,' and said he has also been contacting the president's office. 7 The family's accountant Peter Tarantino is seeking a pardon from the president. 'I don't have the platform or resources the Chrisley's have, but I intend to pursue my options… They used their platform [to] profess their innocence but never made any statements that benefited me,' he added. However, he added of Savannah: 'I think she did what any daughter would do in a similar situation.' What does it take to get a personal pardon for your parents from the President of the United States? Apparently years of cozying up to the Trump family.
Yahoo
6 days ago
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Todd and Julie Chrisley's pardons came after intervention by their daughter
Disgraced reality TV star Todd Chrisley of "Chrisley Knows Best" was released from prison Wednesday, a law firm representing him said, a day after President Donald Trump said he was pardoning him and his wife, Julie Chrisley. Todd Chrisley was released from prison and was on his way home to Nashville Wednesday evening, law firm Litson PLLC said. The "Trumps of the South," who were convicted in 2022 of fraud, tax evasion and conspiracy to defraud the United States, will be released after intervention by one of his daughters. Alex Little, an attorney for the Chrisleys, said in an interview that he did not know why Trump chose to pardon his clients this week. But as part of his pitch, Little said, he supplied Trump's "pardon czar," Alice Johnson, with a binder filled with court documents and testimonials. 'President Trump feels very focused on the issue of criminal justice because he has been a focus of investigations that were directed at him," Little said. "And he's treated it differently because of that.' Trump is a convicted felon who was found guilty last year by a New York City jury of 34 counts of falsifying business records to cover up hush money payments to porn star Stormy Daniels. He was sentenced to a penalty-free unconditional discharge. Little said the Chrisleys did not attempt to win a pardon from President Joe Biden and that one of their daughters, Savannah Chrisley, pushed for a pardon when she met with members of the Trump family before Trump's inauguration. The Chrisleys, he said, were "prosecuted because they were celebrities." "They were treated more harshly because of their status," he said. "And that's not the way our criminal justice system is supposed to work.' Musa Ghanayem, a lawyer for the Chrisleys' daughter Lindsie Chrisley, told NBC News that Trump made the right call. 'When they make a pardon sometimes presidents get it right, sometimes they get it wrong,' Ghanayem said. 'This time I think he got it right.' The team involved in pardoning the pair, known for their roles on the TV show 'Chrisley Knows Best,' appears to have included some major players in Trump's orbit, including former federal prosecutor Brett Tolman, who helped win a pardon for Charles Kushner, the father of Trump's son-in-law Jared Kushner. Savannah Chrisley dropped Tolman's name in a speech in July at the Republican National Convention, where she referred to him as "a lawyer of mine" and claimed her parents were prosecuted "due to our public profile and conservative beliefs." Savannah Chrisley recounted that a prosecutor referred to her family 'as the Trumps of the South.' 'He meant it as an insult, but let me tell you, boy, do I wear that as a badge of honor,' she said. In addition, Savannah Chrisley revealed on her podcast in April 2024 that she had teamed up with Tolman to possibly work on conservative criminal justice reform. Tolman, a former U.S. attorney for Utah, got into the business of lobbying the White House for pardons on behalf of well-heeled clients in the waning days of the first Trump presidency. The Chrisleys are the latest high-profile people to win pardons from Trump after having claimed to be victims of a weaponized Biden Justice Department. Trump pardoned former Sheriff Scott Jenkins of Culpeper County, Virginia, on Monday, before Jenkins' 10-year federal prison sentence for bribery and corruption was set to start. And Tuesday, Trump pardoned a convicted tax cheat named Paul Walczak, whose mother contributed millions of dollars to his presidential campaign. 'Paul Walczak is an entrepreneur targeted by the Biden administration over his family's conservative politics," White House principal deputy press secretary Harrison Fields said in defense of the pardon. On Wednesday, Trump floated the idea of pardoning the men convicted in a scheme to kidnap Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer. Trump officially signed the pardons for the Chrisleys on Wednesday. He also signed a commutation for former Chicago gang leader Larry Hoover, as well as a pardon for former Rep. Michael Grimm, R-N.Y., who was convicted of tax fraud and related charges last year. Trump also just pardoned James and Marlene Kernan, a couple from Oriskany, New York, who pleaded guilty in 2009 to willfully employing a three-time convicted felon at their businesses. An assistant U.S. attorney told NBC News that the high-profile pardons were demoralizing. 'The general feeling is why are we working so hard to enforce the law when everything we do can be erased with the stroke of a pen?' the person said. 'Clearly, the White House is peddling influence and will pardon anyone who fits the 'weaponization' narrative or who has something to offer." Trump was president when the Chrisleys were first indicted in 2019 and William Barr was the attorney general. They were convicted along with their accountant of bilking banks out of more than $36 million. The Chrisleys portrayed themselves as hard-working, Jesus-loving real estate moguls on the hit USA Network show that ran for 10 seasons starting in 2014. But federal prosecutors said they were swindlers who began defrauding banks before they became reality TV stars and used the ill-gotten gains to support their lavish lifestyle in suburban Atlanta. Todd Chrisley was sentenced to 12 years in prison, and Julie Chrisley was sentenced to seven years. Their accountant, Peter Tarantino, was convicted on tax charges and served a three-year sentence. He was released in January. The Chrisleys formally requested a pardon in February, when Trump was back in the White House. 'They believe that the president will seriously consider pardoning both Julie and Todd Chrisley as a result of the unfair treatment they received in the criminal justice system,' Jay Surgent, an attorney for the Chrisleys, told NBC News at the time. Trump called their children Tuesday with the news. 'It's a terrible thing, but it's a great thing because your parents are going to be free and clean,' Trump said on the call. 'We'll try getting it done tomorrow, so give them — I don't know them — but give them my regards and wish them well. Wish them a good life.' Their son Grayson Chrisley replied, 'Mr. President, I just want to say thank you for bringing my parents back." Since the start of his second term in the White House, Trump has extended pardons and commutations to thousands of people, including roughly 1,500 criminal defendants who were involved in the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol. The Chrisleys were struggling financially when, 'out of the blue,' they got an opportunity to audition for a reality show that turned them into stars, their lawyer Bruce Morris said during the couple's federal fraud trial. Little did not rule out that the Chrisleys might return to reality TV. 'Right now, their focus is reuniting as a family and spending family time together," he said. "They are both people who have always been in the public eye, and I wouldn't be surprised if they continue to do that.' This article was originally published on
