On May 30 in Nashville, Todd Chrisley and his daughter, Savannah, held a press conference to address the presidential pardon he and his wife, Julie, received on May 27. (Photo credit: FOX 5 Atlanta / YouTube)

Todd Chrisley Breaks Silence In Press Conference

“Whether you believe it or not … even though this pardon has happened, I was convicted of something that I did not do,” Todd Chrisley stated at a press conference in Nashville on Friday, May 30. “It could be you. It could be any of you.”

Best known from the reality series Chrisley Knows Best, which aired on USA Network from 2014 to 2023, Todd and his wife Julie received a full presidential pardon from Trump on May 27.

Todd was sentenced to 12 years in prison, with 16 months of probation, after being found guilty of conspiracy to commit bank fraud, bank fraud, tax fraud, and conspiracy to defraud the United States.

Similarly, Julie was sentenced to seven years in prison, having been convicted of conspiracy to commit bank fraud, bank fraud, tax fraud, and conspiracy to defraud the United States. Further, she also received wire fraud and obstruction of justice charges.

On May 28, the couple was released from their separate federal prisons.

Chrisleys Hold Press Conference

“We’re blessed to have our family back, and we’re blessed to be coming back to television,” Todd said at the May 30 press conference. “We do have a much bigger story to tell, now, than we ever have.”

Sporting what he jokingly called “the B.O.P. glow” (B.O.P. standing for Bureau of Prisons), Todd was accompanied at the May 30 press conference by his daughter, Savannah.

Julie was not present at the press conference, with Todd noting she was catching up with the family’s youngest child, Chloe.

“I want to thank, first and foremost, my Lord and savior, because that’s who got me through it,” Todd stated. “I want to thank President Trump.”

Singling out the efforts of Savannah, Todd said, “For any parent to see their child fight this hard, it’s a double-edged sword. It’s a blessing, and then your heart breaks because your child has been placed in that position to fight for you, when, as a parent, you’re supposed to fight for your children.”

Turning to Savannah, he said, “I will always be grateful to you.”

When her parents were incarcerated on January 17, 2023, she became guardian of her younger siblings, Chloe and Grayson. During that time, she became a senior fellow of CPAC’s Nolan Center For Justice, which put her in close contact with politicians, including many figures in Trump’s administration.

Continuing, Todd turned to the experience in prison that he was leaving, “As bad as this experience has been, there’s also been a lot of blessings. I have met some wonderful men, and I have listened to some horrific stories about things that have gone on in our [criminal justice] system.”

After declaring that he was convicted of something he did not do, Todd said, “Somewhere in this room, someone has had a family member that has been affected by this system. I understand the shame that’s around it, but I refuse to feed into it because shame is like a cancer — it just spreads — and I have no shame.”

He added, “I will continue to fight for all the guys that I dealt with and was blessed to be with at FPC, Pensacola.”

Taking Questions

The first question Todd was asked concerned his life in prison and his more trim physical appearance, with Todd joking, “Maybe it’s just all the residual Botox that never wore off.”

Speaking more seriously on his experience in prison, he said, “I had nothing to do, other than read and to workout. I worked out every morning from 10:45 a.m. until [noon] with my buddies there, and I read and my walk with Christ became deeper.”

He also noted that he had daily contact with his children, and that he was even able to email Julie every day.

Asked about being picked up from prison, he said, “I woke up the first morning, and I was looking around, and I was like, ‘This is really real. I’m home.’ I was grateful for our family to be all back in the same room, to be together, to share a meal together, to pray together, and to know that we’re still in the fight together.”

When asked if he had remorse for the actions which led to him and his wife being incarcerated, Todd quipped in a Trumpian fashion, “You must be CNN.”

Responding further, he said, “I would have remorse if there was something that I did.”

The reporter then pushed back, saying Julie had apologized at her resentencing hearing in September of 2024, so Todd responded, “Let me explain to you how that works, if you don’t mind. You’re placed in a position as a defendant to either bow down and kiss the a** of the Department of Justice and accept responsibility for things you did not do in order to avoid a stronger sentence, and the corruption that went on in our case is going to continue to unfold.”

Of the revelation that he had been pardoned, Todd recalled that a staff member of FPC, Pensacola, approached him and told him he’d been pardoned. Staring at the staff member, the staffer then said, “No, really. You’ve been pardoned. It’s in the news.”

Todd added, “After about 10 minutes, all I could think about was the guys that I was leaving behind, because I had made such wonderful relationships.”

On his way out, he remembered the men shouting to him, “Don’t forget us.”

Watch the full press conference here:

The New Chrisley TV Series

On May 21, Lifetime announced it was producing a new reality docuseries about the Chrisleys, with Chase and Savannah Chrisley serving as executive producers.

Todd alluded to the new show, which is presently untitled, and it came up during the questioning from the press on May 30.

Savannah responded, “Obviously, we had been filming, and we had just wrapped filming, for all intents and purposes, and then we get the call that they had been pardoned, so we picked right back up.”

Filming with Todd and Julie began the moment they were picked up from prison. Saying the family is “excited,” Savannah said, “The show is going to give … people a look into the trial, and things that we went through, and we’re going to set the record straight.”

With the development of the presidential pardon, she said the drama can now go “full circle,” as their parents return and they “move forward with their lives.”