Todd Chrisley has said the reason he and his wife, Julie Chrisley, were convicted of bank and tax fraud was because there weren’t any “multimillionaires” on the jury.
The reality TV couple and their daughter, Savannah Chrisley, recently sat down with Juju Chang for an ABC News Studios special, which aired on Sunday (June 29) on Hulu and Disney+ and again on Monday (June 30) on Good Morning America. During the interview, Chang brought up how Todd and Julie were convicted by “a jury of your peers” and many feel like they “didn’t serve their time.”
In 2022, Todd and Julie were convicted of defrauding banks of at least $30 million and sentenced to a combined 19 years in federal prison. Todd was sentenced to 12 years at FPC Pensacola, while Julie was given a seven-year sentence at FMC Lexington. They were released from prison on Wednesday, May 28, after being pardoned by President Donald Trump.
Todd rejected the idea that a jury of their peers had convicted them. “Convicted by a jury of our peers? Were we?” he responded to Chang’s question. “I didn’t see multimillionaires in that jury box. I didn’t see people that were in the film industry in that jury box.”
He continued, “I saw people [on the jury] in a heavily Democratic county, and a judge allowed them to paint us as this white family who has white entitlement and who has money to burn.”
Todd’s claims echo statements made by Savannah over the past two years, in which she alleged her parents were unfairly treated due to their support of Trump. However, according to court records obtained by Variety, as well as statements from jurors and others present at the trial, neither Trump nor politics ever came up in the trial or the appeals.
“Politics never came up. Trump never came up,” juror Glenda Hinton told the outlet. “It was strictly a fraud case. There was no politics.”
In addition, the Chrisleys were arrested during Trump’s first term as president back in 2019. In fact, in 2016, Todd said he was not impressed with Hillary Clinton or Donald Trump, and Savannah noted on a recent episode of her Unlocked podcast that she was “not involved in politics really at all” until two years ago.
Todd’s comments about the jury sparked a strong reaction on social media, with many criticising him for refusing to take accountability.
“🙄🙄🙄🙄 not taking responsibility,” commented one Instagram user.
“Didn’t his lawyer pick the jury along with prosecutor?” said another.
“Ick he seems like he is above everyone. Not humble at all. No empathy. This taught him nothing,” another added.
Another wrote, “Wow! I am shocked by the lack of humbleness.”
“They are guilty of tax evasion and refuse to take responsibility, instead blaming someone else,” said one commenter.
However, one fan backed Todd up, saying, “Regardless of how we feel towards this, he is not wrong. His peers would have been those within his age or social group, and profession. If they weren’t present, he has a point. Now, Democrats have nothing to do with this, Todd Chrisley.”
“A jury of one’s peers means fellow citizens,” another user responded to the above comment.
“What do democrats have to do with anything,” another added.
What do you think of Todd’s comments? Let us know your thoughts in the comments section below.