Trump Pardons Todd and Julie Chrisley, Reality TV Stars Convicted of Fraud

President Trump on Wednesday pardoned the reality television stars Todd and Julie Chrisley, who were convicted three years ago of evading taxes and defrauding banks of more than $30 million to support their luxurious lifestyle.

The pardon, announced Tuesday by the White House, is the latest instance of Mr. Trump using his clemency power to settle grievances over what he calls the political weaponization of the justice system. Mr. Trump, in notifying the Chrisleys’ daughter, Savannah, called their treatment “pretty harsh,” as shown in a video clip of their call posted to social media by one of the president’s special assistants, Margo Martin.

“Your parents are going to be free and clean,” Mr. Trump tells Savannah Chrisley, adding, “I don’t know them, but give them my regards and wish them a good life.”

Savannah Chrisley can be heard saying, “Thank you so much, Mr. President.”

In a statement on Wednesday, the Chrisleys’ lawyer Alex Little said the pardon corrected “a deep injustice and restores two devoted parents to their family and community.”

By Wednesday evening, the couple had been released from separate federal prisons — he from one in Pensacola, Fla., and she from one in Lexington, Ky. — and were traveling to their home in Nashville, according to a spokeswoman for the family.

The Chrisleys soared to fame about a decade ago in the USA Network hit “Chrisley Knows Best” as self-made, God-fearing real estate moguls who lived in a 30,000-square-foot mansion outside Atlanta. But according to prosecutors, their empire was “based on the lie that their wealth came from dedication and hard work” and they were “career swindlers who have made a living by jumping from one fraud scheme to another, lying to banks, stiffing vendors and evading taxes at every corner.”