President Donald Trump has granted a pardon to a former Tennessee Republican lawmaker, Brian Kelsey, who was just beginning a 21-month imprisonment for a campaign finance violation. Kelsey, who had attempted to rescind his plea, announced the pardon through social media, highlighting his newfound freedom after only two weeks in a minimum-security facility in Kentucky.
The former senator received a “full and unconditional pardon,” as directed by Trump’s presidential decree, which facilitated his immediate release. Expressing his gratitude, Kelsey remarked on social media, “May God bless America, despite the prosecutorial sins it committed against me, President Trump, and others the past four years.”
In November 2022, Kelsey confessed to channeling funds from his state legislative seat to his unsuccessful 2016 congressional campaign. Initially indicted in October 2021, Kelsey accused the Biden administration of political motives, but he pleaded guilty after a co-defendant, Joshua Smith, admitted guilt.
Kelsey criticized the Biden administration again, saying, “God used Donald Trump to save me from the weaponized Biden DOJ,” referencing the Department of Justice. His alleged campaign finance misconduct in 2017 during Trump’s administration had prompted a complaint by the Campaign Legal Center.
In March 2023, Kelsey’s attempt to withdraw his plea was denied. He claimed his decision to plead guilty stemmed from uncertainty and familial pressures, notably the birth of twin sons in September 2022 and his father’s battle with cancer, which ended in February 2023. Initially, Kelsey was under the impression, advised by his former legal team, that probation would be his likely outcome.
U.S. District Judge Waverly Crenshaw rejected Kelsey’s plea withdrawal in May 2023, skeptical that Kelsey, a seasoned attorney, misunderstood his guilty plea’s implications. Another appeal claimed plea agreement violations, yet Crenshaw deemed Kelsey’s admission as definitive and rejected additional motions despite allowing him to remain free during an appeal decision.
Recently, Kelsey unsuccessfully appealed, contesting ineffective legal representation and asserting innocence based on recordings involving co-defendant Smith and uncharged former Rep. Jeremy Durham. Crenshaw dismissed these claims, affirming Kelsey’s plea as a willing admission of guilt.
Smith, who managed a Nashville social club, cooperated under a plea agreement, receiving five years probation. The indictment charged Kelsey, Smith, and others with disguising $91,000 funneled through Kelsey’s Senate campaign and a nonprofit to back his congressional bid, leading to false campaign reports and unlawful contributions.
While the national group was unnamed, the Campaign Legal Center’s 2017 complaint implicated the American Conservative Union, which cooperated in investigations. Saurav Ghosh from the Campaign Legal Center criticized the pardon, viewing it as disdainful toward legal accountability.
Kelsey, an accomplished attorney from Germantown, began his political career in 2004 and was elected to the Senate in 2009, serving as the Judiciary Committee chair until his decision against reelection in 2022. His law license was suspended following his guilty plea.
