Julie Chrisley and Todd Chrisley could potentially reclaim money they paid in restitution after getting pardoned by President Donald Trump. Meanwhile, their daughter, Savannah Chrisley, addressed rumors surrounding the pardon, as Todd said the prison system mistreats African Americans.
On May 27, the President pardoned Julie and Todd under the belief that they were given an unfair sentence and trial. The Chrisley Knows Best stars were charged with tax evasion and bank fraud. Julie was sentenced to seven years in prison while Todd was given 12 years. In a speech at the Republican National Convention, Savannah stated that the convictions were politically motivated.
As part of their sentence, the couple was told to repay $17 million for restitution, and according to their attorney, they’ve already paid some of it. Per TMZ, the presidential pardon in this case means their debt is now canceled. Plus, a president can effectively order the people who received the restitution to pay it back. As of now, however, the info on the Chrisleys’ pardon document is unknown.
So the Chrisleys could potentially get their money back.
Alex Little, the couple’s lawyer, released a statement: “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.”
Meanwhile, at a press conference via PEOPLE, Savannah addressed rumors about the pardon.
“People think, ‘Oh, you’re a celebrity, you’re white, you have money.’ That we got an upper hand, and we didn’t,” stated Savannah, who expressed that the pardon was due to “countless hours and the money and the time” she had put into trying to free them.
“Obviously the biggest misconception right now is that I either paid for a pardon or slept for a pardon,” the star shared. “That’s the biggest misconception right now, and if people knew the countless hours and the money and the time that I spent going to D.C., literally with not a meeting scheduled, and I just got on a plane and went and said, ‘I’m going to be in the right room at the right time and meet the right people.’”
“I fought hard, and I was exhausted, and I begged for meetings. I was never too good to ask,” Savannah added. “That’s the thing, is people think, ‘Oh, you’re a celebrity, you’re white, you have money.’ That we got an upper hand, and we didn’t. I had to fight, and I was relentless, and that’s how it happened.”
Though Todd said he doesn’t know if his family’s fame was a factor in the case getting to the President, he “understand[s]” why people believe this.
“That’s not something that you can look at and say, ‘Well, that had nothing to do with it,'” Todd expressed, and he then praised Savannah. “Watching it all unfold, and listening to what she said [at the convention], what was coming up next, and and just being consumed with pride while at the same time knowing that this is a long shot — because so many people are told no — and being in that, being in the prison system, anyone that says that it’s a fair shake, it’s not.”
“Anyone that says that it’s a fair shake, it’s not. Because I dealt with young African American males in the prison that I was in that were not treated the same,” Todd continued, via @hollywoodunlocked on Instagram. “They were not. They were denied programming. They were denied access to certain things I was not denied. And so I think that that is a much bigger picture that we all as a society as a whole need to look at, that we are one. Whether you’re Republican, Democrat, or whatever, at the end of the day, when you’re in that hospital, you don’t care if it’s a Democrat treating you or a Republican … I want whoever’s going to be the best person to do that.”
“Even though this pardon has happened, I still was convicted of something that I did not do,” the star expressed. “It could be you, it could be any of you, and somewhere in this room, someone has had a family member that has been affected by the system. So I understand the shame that’s around it, but I refuse to feed into that, because shame is like a cancer that just spreads, and I have no shame.”
Todd then addressed the moment he learned of the pardon.
“I had a staff member that came to me and said, ‘You’ve just been pardoned,'” he said. “And I just looked at him, and he says, ‘No, really, you’ve been pardoned. It’s in the news.'” At that point, Todd called Savannah, and she confirmed it.
“I remember walking back from the phone and just feeling numb, not really knowing,” he explained. “And then after about 10 minutes, all I could think about were the guys that I was leaving behind, because I had made such wonderful relationships with those men. And when I left that day, they —there was only 317 men at our camp — but they were lined up shouting when I was walking out. They were saying, ‘Don’t leave. Don’t forget us. Don’t forget us.’ And my commitment is to them that I will never forget them.”