Savannah Chrisley got emotional while waiting to take her father, Todd Chrisley, home from prison.
Savannah, 27, spoke with reporters outside the Federal Prison Camp Pensacola in Florida on Wednesday, May 28, when Todd, 56, regained his freedom after being pardoned by President Donald Trump the day prior.
“Honestly, this process has been absolutely insane,” she said, per a video posted by TMZ. She teared up as she added: “I am just so grateful that I am gonna leave here with my dad.”
Savannah noted that her brother, Grayson Chrisley, was picking up their mother, Julie Chrisley, from a prison in Kentucky.
News broke on Tuesday, May 28, that the president planned to pardon Todd and Julie after they were convicted of fraud in 2022.
“It’s a terrible thing, but it’s a great thing, because your parents are going to be free and clean,” Trump said in a phone call to Savannah. “I hope we can do it by tomorrow. I don’t know them, but give them my regards. Wish them a good life.”
Savannah had been out running errands when she received Trump’s message.
“The president called me personally as I was walking into Sam’s Club,” Savannah said in an Instagram video shared Tuesday. “Both my parents are coming home tonight or tomorrow, and I still don’t believe it’s real. The fact that the president called me, I will forever be grateful for President Trump, his administration and everyone along the way.”
By Wednesday, she was sporting pink Trump merch and awaiting Todd’s release. She told reporters that she’d arrived to the prison at 2 a.m. that morning, and recalled how her parents “didn’t believe” that they’d actually been pardoned. “It just came out of nowhere,” she said.
“Over the past 24 hours, I’ve gotten so much love and so much hate, and I’ve had people say, ‘Hmm, I wonder what she had to do to get this pardon,’” Savannah noted. “I didn’t have to do anything other than stand firm in my beliefs and my convictions and fight for my parents and fight for what was right.”
Todd and Julie were charged in 2019 with several counts of bank and wire fraud and tax evasion. Though the Chrisley Knows Best duo maintained their innocence, they were each found guilty after a 2022 trial and sentenced to 12 and seven years in prison, respectively, with additional probation requirements. Their sentences were reduced in 2024 after a court appeal.
When Todd and Julie entered prison, Savannah was granted custody of siblings Grayson, now 19, and Chloe, now 12. (Todd also shares 28-year-old son Chase with Julie, 52, and is the father of two older children from a previous marriage. His son Kyle is Chloe’s birth father.)
“Chloe, I think, is still in shock. She doesn’t want to get her hopes up because she feels like something bad is going to happen,” Savannah said in a Tuesday interview with NewsNation’s On Balance, referring to her sister, whom Todd and Julie adopted in 2016. “I’m excited to be going to get my dad and bringing him home to her. We’re excited.”
