Todd and Julie Chrisley have long maintained that their combined 19-year federal prison sentence for bank and tax fraud was due to political persecution because they supported President Donald Trump.

Now, a new report from Variety throws doubt on those claims. In particular, the report notes how the couple’s daughter, Savannah Chrisley, went on a podcast in September 2023 and said, “The prosecutors in Fulton County, Georgia, started off the trial by stating, ‘Ladies and gentlemen, what we have here are the Trumps of the South.”

This claim has been frequently repeated by the Chrisleys over the past 18 months and longer, with Savannah long-maintaining her parents were treated unfairly due to their support of Trump. Ultimately, this led to Trump pardoning Todd and Julie on May 28.

However, according to court records obtained by Variety, as well as statements from jurors and others present at the trial, Trump nor politics ever came up in the trial.

“Politics never came up. Trump never came up,” juror Glenda Hinton told the outlet. “It was strictly a fraud case. There was no politics.”

Peter Tarantino, the Chrisleys’ former accountant who was also convicted at the trial for filing false tax returns, also confirmed that Trump’s name was never brought up once during the proceedings.

“I sat through three weeks of trial testimony and I never heard that said,” Tarantino stated, noting how it would have caused an uproar from Chrisley’s defense if it had. Tarantino, who served 18 months and who was not pardoned, also pointed out how “They were indicted during the Trump administration.”

Variety notes how there is no mention of Trump or politics by anyone within the entire 3,400-page trial transcript.

Responding to the report, Savannah told the publication that the “Trumps of the South” comment was made in a “meeting” among the judge and lawyers. She also said the jury was not present but later added she couldn’t recall if they were present or not. As for why there was no mention in the transcript, Savannah said, “There were a lot of things the judge had redacted.” Variety states there are no obvious redactions.

Todd and Julie were indicted on charges of tax evasion and conspiracy to commit bank fraud in 2019. They received their prison sentences in 2022 and began serving their time in January 2023. Todd was sentenced to 12 years at FPC Pensacola, while Julie was given a seven-year sentence at FMC Lexington.

Despite the claims of “political persecution” due to supporting Trump, the Chrisleys only began speaking publicly about their MAGA support following the sentencing. 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.

The political bias argument did not come up in the initial trial nor in the appeals, including a separate proceeding where Todd and Julie claimed to have been targeted by a state tax investigator due to their celebrity status. The state tax investigator is a Republican.

However, upon their release last month, the couple’s attorning, Alex Little, said Trump had recognized that his clients had been “targeted because of their conservative values and high profile.”