Just moments after he was released from federal prison for tax evasion and fraud charges, Todd Chrisley came face-to-face with the “gracious” man responsible for pardoning him and his wife, Julie Chrisley — President Donald Trump.
In an exclusive interview with Fox News Digital, the “Chrisley Knows Best” star — who is currently promoting Lifetime’s new docuseries, “The Chrisleys: Back to Reality,” alongside his family — opened up about the candid conversation he had with the president via FaceTime while still on prison grounds, revealed the unexpected comment he received, and detailed the “humble” side of Trump that the public rarely sees.
“He was very kind, as I’ve said before, and I’ll say for the rest of my life, I’m grateful to President Trump because President Trump reunited my family,” said Todd, who had just reunited with daughter, Savannah Chrisley, when he took the FaceTime call with Trump in May. “And regardless of how you feel about leaning left, right, or whatever your political beliefs are, I don’t know of anyone that’s incarcerated that would turn down a pardon from President Trump.”
TODD AND JULIE CHRISLEY RETURN TO REALITY TV AFTER TRUMP PARDON FREES THEM FROM PRISON
The Chrisleys, who rose to fame with their hit reality show “Chrisley Knows Best,” were convicted of federal bank fraud and tax evasion and had been serving prison time since their 2022 conviction. The couple, who have maintained their innocence, reported to prison on Jan. 17, 2022 and were sentenced to 12 and seven years, respectively.
In May, Todd and Julie were released from federal prison after they received pardons from President Trump.
“It’s a terrible thing, but it’s a great thing, because your parents are going to be free and clean, and I hope we can do it by tomorrow. Is that OK? We’ll try getting it done tomorrow,” Trump told the Chrisley’s children, Savannah and Chase, in a phone call from the Oval Office that was posted on the X account of a White House aide. The post was captioned in part, “Trump Knows Best!”
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Savannah, who has worked tirelessly to get her parents pardoned, told Fox News Digital that her various conversations with President Trump always made her feel “heard.”
“For me, when I spoke to the president for the very first time, I like to tell people I was so shocked because it wasn’t like I was having a conversation with the president,” she said. “It felt like I was having a conversation with my father. The president was asking me about how I had custody of my brother and sister and how much time my parents got, and he wanted to know the story, and he wanted to know how I was doing. “
“So for that, he made me feel heard,” she added. “And for that I will forever be grateful for him and Alice Johnson and everyone else who worked on the case and fought for my family.”
On May 28, Todd recalled waking up in prison, expecting to go about his daily routine. He never expected to walk out a free man.
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“Listen, I’ve said again on our [‘Chrisley Confessions 2.0’] podcast that I’ve had so many Joseph moments to happen in my life from the time this whole thing started,” he said. “And so you go to bed on May the 27th, and you know that on the 28th you’re going to get up and do the same thing over and over and over again. That’s not the way my life happened.”
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“My Joseph moment was getting up that morning and then that afternoon being told, you’ve been pardoned, we’ve got to get you out of here,” he continued. “That’s how quickly your life can change. When I spoke with President Trump via FaceTime, his first thing was, ‘Well, wow, you look great.’ And I was like, ‘Well, thank you.’ But he was very kind and very gracious.”
The father-of-six said most of the public doesn’t “get to see” that side of the President.
“We’ve been blessed to be able to see the kindness that President Trump has,” Todd explained. “We’ve been blessed to see a humble man behind the scenes. And again, I want to separate political beliefs and let’s look at each other as human beings, as all children of God, and to lift each other up.”
“I’m not looking to be divisive about anything,” he added. “So President Trump has been wonderful to us and so has his family. Lara Trump has been wonderful to us, and we love her dearly.”
Additionally, Todd said he and his family owe a great deal to Alice Johnson, an American criminal justice reform advocate, who assisted in the pardon.
“And I don’t think that Alice Johnson has been given all the credit that she deserves,” Todd explained. “This woman has been fighting for so many years for so many people, and she’s been on the inside. She knows what it’s like. And so between God, President Trump, my daughter, Alice Johnson, we had a lot of people that stepped in and interceded on our behalf.”
“I think that it’s very important for people to know that these pardons are not just given out,” he continued. “There’s a whole process that goes along with this and there’s vetting, and they go through these legal records, and they do their research through the Department of Justice. And once they had established that there was huge issues in this case, that was the turning point.”
“Regardless of all the hard work that [Savannah] had done, it wouldn’t have mattered had the merits not been there for President Trump to make that decision,” he added.
In July, Todd and Julie opened up about life in prison and explained why life on the outside can sometimes be more difficult.
“I’ve actually talked to a few of the women that I was in prison with that they’re already home,” Julie, 52, began to explain during the July 23 episode of their “Chrisley Confessions 2.0” podcast.
WATCH: TODD CHRISLEY: WE’RE COMING BACK TO TELEVISION
“We all have this general consensus that — it’s kind of weird to even say it.”
Todd, 56, added, “No, it’s not weird. Life is rougher than prison life.”
“It is so horrific, the conditions that you’re there for, but that’s from a physical standpoint,” he explained. “But from an emotional and psychological standpoint, it is harder dealing with day to day.”
“The Chrisleys: Back to Reality” will premiere as a two-night event September 1 and 2 at 8/7c. The remaining episodes will air Tuesdays beginning on September 9th with the finale on September 16th.
