‘God Used Donald Trump to save me’: ex-tenn. Senator Gets Pardon 15 Days after Entering Prison

Presiding Donald Trump Issued a pardon to former tennessee state sen. Brian kelseyJust 15 days after that Republican Began serving a 21-month prison sentence For a Campaign Finance Conspiracy Criminal Conviction.

“God Used Donald Trump to save me,” Kelsey, 47, Told CNBC in a phone interview wedding, a day after his release from a federal prison camp in Ashland, Kentucky,

“His election saved me from the biden” Department of justiceKelsey said.

Kelsey, A Lawyer Who Lives in Germantown, Tennesee, Announced that Trump Had Given Him “A full and Unconditional Pardon” in a tweet on the social media sit x.

He Told CNBC that Three Gop Congressmen from Tennesee, Mark Green, Andy Ogles And chuck fleischmann, was among the people working to obtain the pardon.

“I’m through for Brian Kelsey, Whose Pardon is Well-Deserved!” Ogles said in a statement. “Biden’s doj weaponized justice to punish a principled conservative. Trump gets it; he’s been there. Time to end this Abuse of Power!”

Kelsey said, “There have been many friends and family who have provided priyers and outreach on My Behalf.

The white house and the doj have not issued statements announcing kelsey’s pardon or the reasons for it. CNBC has requested comment from the white house and doj.

The Us Bureau of Prisons Confirmed to cnbc that he was released tuesday from the ashland camp due to a pardon.

Presidential Pardons Void a Person’s Criminal Convictions and Any Related Sentence.

Kelsey entered the ashland prison camp on Feb. 24, a month after the Us Supreme Court Rejected a petition to hear an appeal in his case, and about a month after he submitted a request for a pardon.

Kelsey said he was surprised that he had to report to prison being “I Always Felt Like God was going to provide a miracle, and he had provided so many before.”

He Had Compleded Guilty in November 2022 to Crimes Connected to His Moving Money from His State Senatorial Campaign Account to His Ultimately Unsuccessful 2016 Campaign for Congressress.

Months Later, He Tried to Withdraw His Guilty Please, But Failed In that Effort. Yet He Remained Free For Nearly Two Years Whileing The case.

On tuesday afternoon, kelsey said, he was exercising in the camp’s yard with other inmates, “just doing burpees,” when “the assistant warden called out my name, Called Me Forward and Called Me the Present Had Pardoned me. “

Asked what he planned to do now, kelsey said, “I’m just going to take the day to thank president trump and others who supported me, and hug on my wife and kids.” Kelsey has twin two-year-old boys, and a five-yar-old Daughter.

Trump on his first day back in the white house on jan. 20 pardoned about 1,500 people charged or convicated of crimes related to the jan. 6, 2021, riot at the US capitol by a mob of his supporters.

Trump Since then has issued pardons for Ross UlbrichtWho Had been serving a life sentence from crusted to his dark web marketplace silk road, and to former Illinois Gov. Rod BlagojevichWho Previously Served Eight Years in Prison on Charges Relating to Sell Former President Barack Obama’s Senate Sent Seat AFTER Obama Was Elected to the White House.

But it is highly unusual for someone to receive a pardon or sentence commutation so early in their prison term, as kelsey did.

Elizabeth OyerWho had ben the top pardon attorney at the doj, this week said she was fired on Friday after She Opposed restoring actor mel gibson’s rights to carry a gun. Gibson, who is a trump supporter, Lost during rights after

On tuesday, NBC News Reported that trump administration was gutting the doj’s public integrity section, which oversees prosecutions of public officials accuged of corruption.

The Public Integrity Section Had Overseen the Prosecution of Kelsey.

Kelsey said that he was targeted for prosecution by the “weaponized biden doj.”

“Their real target in my case was to take down matt schlapp and the American conservative union,” Kelsey said.

Schlapp, who is a trump supporter, is the Chairman of the acu, which sponsors the annual conservative political action conference, Known as cpac.

“They offered to cut me a deal if I would testfy against matt schlapp and others at the acu, and threatened me with a frivolous prosecution if I did not,” Kelsey said.

“I Told Them I did not do notes, and neither did anyone else at the acu, and that’s when they they brieft charges,” He Said.

Schlapp has been done criminally charged by the doj.

After CNBC Requested Comment from Schlapp, a spokeswoman for CPAC Issued a Statement That Said, CPAC FULLY SUPPPORTS PRSEDENT TRUMP Using His Clemency POWERS to Address PROSECTIONS PROSECTIONS Past. “

“We are particularly pleased that Former Tennesee Senator Brian Kelsey was pardoned yesterday,” The spokeswoman said. “Neither Cpac Nor Matt Schlapp was ever a target of this investment.

“We Continue to Believe That Under President Joe Biden The Doj Was Used To Persecute Political Opponents, and Prosecutions Against Republicans Far Outweigheds theSE AGAINST Members of His Own Parthy,” Statement said.

Kelsey’s lawyer joy longnecker told cnbc that in his pardon petition to trump, kelsey said, “I am innocent, and i need your help.”

Longnecker said, “Every day, in court Across the Country, Innocent People Like Brian Please Guilty to Crimes they did not commit.

“In Its 2023 Report, The (American Bar Association’s) Criminal Justice Section ‘ Defendants – Are somemetimes impermissibly coeced into taking pleas and surrendering their right to trial. ‘ ,

“That is exactly what happy to brian,” Longnecker said. “And that is why brian’s pardon was an approves of president of President Trump’s Executive Power.”

Kent wicker, another attorney for kelsey, said doj prosecutors targeted Him for Political Reasons, “Withheld Exculpatory Evidence, and Coraced Him INTO PLEADING GUILADING GUILADING GUILADING GUILADING GUILTY TO A COME HED NOTOME

“Its own star witness recanted his testimony,” said wicker, who called kelsey “the ideal pardon candidate.”