Savannah Chrisley brings Todd and Julie's legal woes to RNC

Savannah Chrisley, under RNC spotlight, pins parents’ legal woes on ‘rogue prosecutors’

A young woman with blond hair in a white shirt speaking into a microphone at a lectern

July 17, 2024 11:35 AM PT

Reality star Savannah Chrisley waged fresh criticism against the “rogue prosecutors” who convicted her parents Todd Chrisley and Julie Chrisley of tax fraud and evasion two years ago.

However, instead of airing her grievances on her podcast, on her Instagram or on “The Masked Singer,” Savannah channeled her family’s legal woes on a larger stage: the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee.

“72600019 and 7260119. These may be just numbers to you but to me, they’re my whole heart,” Savannah, Todd and Julie’s eldest daughter, began her address at the RNC on Tuesday. “These numbers are my parents’ identification numbers in our federal prison.”

Under the RNC spotlight, Savannah detailed the federal fraud case against her parents and the emotional toll it has taken on her personal life. She also alleged that her family “was persecuted by rogue prosecutors in Fulton County due to our public profile ... and our conservative beliefs.”

The Chrisley family launched to reality TV fame in 2013 with the debut of USA Network’s “Chrisley Knows Best,” and inspired a reality TV empire in the following years including the E! spinoff “Growing Up Chrisley” and Julie’s web cooking series “What’s Cooking With Julie Chrisley.” In 2019, a federal grand jury indicted Todd and Julie, alleging the couple engaged in a fraud scheme from 2007 to 2012.

In June 2022, Todd and Julie were convicted and were later sentenced to a combined 19 years in prison. Since then, Savannah has publicly slammed the federal justice system and shared family attorneys’ efforts to appeal her parents’ convictions and sentencing.

“They accused my parents of fraud, when really we were defrauded by a dishonest business partner who, let’s not forget, the government gave full immunity to,” she said Tuesday. “We suffered warrant-less raids and harassment.”

While Todd and Julie’s fraud case was central to Savannah’s RNC address, the 26-year-old also aimed at the Democratic party. She claimed that a prosecutor in “the most heavily Democrat county” in Georgia dubbed her family “the Trumps of the South.”

“He meant it as an insult,” she continued, “but let me tell you, boy, do I wear it as a badge of honor.”

Savannah concluded her speech by noting, “We need to hold rogue prosecutors accountable,” accusing the Biden family of “corruption,” and passionately endorsing former President Donald Trump.

“Donald J. Trump has only one conviction that matters, and that is his conviction to make America great again,” she said, evoking the former president’s slogan.

Savannah appeared at the RNC, weeks after the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Atlanta said in June it would vacate Julie’s current prison sentence for tax evasion. In 2022, she was sentenced to serve seven years in federal prison. In June, Savannah said on Instagram that the update on her mom’s case was a “little win.”

“For that I am grateful and I hope and pray that the judge can send her home,” Savannah said, before adding she is confident her mother “will be coming sooner rather than later.”

Later in her video, she added: “I have some other ideas up my sleeve to get dad home.”