Trump pardons former Tennessee House speaker convicted of federal public corruption charges

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WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump has pardoned the former Tennessee House speaker and a onetime aide of public corruption charges after the White House said the Biden administration Justice Department “significantly over-prosecuted” both for a minor issue.

Former Republican state Rep. Glen Casada was sentenced in September to three years in prison, and his former chief of staff, Cade Cothren, was also convicted and received a 2 1/2-year prison sentence. The case centered on their actions after both had been driven from their leadership roles and were accused of running a scheme to win taxpayer-funded mail business from lawmakers.

The moves continued a pattern of Trump, a Republican, using his second term to bestow unlikely pardons on political allies, prominent public figures and others convicted of defrauding the public.

Many of the clemencies he granted have targeted criminal cases once touted as just by the Justice Department. They also have come amid a continuing Trump administration effort to erode public integrity guardrails — including the firing of the department’s pardon attorney and the near-dismantling of a prosecution unit established to hold public officials accountable for abusing the public trust.

According to prosecutors, Cothren launched a company called Phoenix Solutions — with the knowledge and support of Casada and then-Rep. Robin Smith. The three claimed the company was run by “Matthew Phoenix,” later determined to be fictitious. The companies controlled by Casada and Smith received roughly $52,000 in taxpayer money in 2020 from a mailer program for lawmakers.

A “Matthew Phoenix” signature ended up on an IRS tax document. A purported associate of that fictitious person was portrayed by Casada’s then-girlfriend, prosecutors said.

That all followed Casada having resigned as speaker in 2019 after a no-confidence vote by fellow Republicans due to swirling scandals — including revelations that he exchanged sexually explicit text messages about women with Cothren years ago.

Cothren also left his post over those texts and racist texts, coupled with an admission that he used cocaine inside a legislative office building during a previous job.

A White House official said Thursday night that Trump approved the pardons for Casada and Cothren because the Department of Justice under Trump's Democratic predecessor, Joe Biden, “significantly over-prosecuted these individuals for a minor issue.”

The official spoke on background to discuss a pardon that had not yet been publicly released, but said the case against Casada and Cothren involved constituent mailers, which were billed at competitive prices, and that the case was brought despite prosecutors not having received a complaint from legislators.

The scheme also resulted in a net profit loss of less than $5,000, said the official, who noted that the case featured an armed raid, perp walk and the potential for lengthy prison terms — things often more appropriate for federal cases involving frauds worth multiple millions of dollars.

Trump's moves for Casada and Cothren follow his previous pardon of Democratic former Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich and Republican ex-Connecticut Gov. John Rowland, whose promising political career was upended by a corruption scandal and two federal prison stints.

Trump also pardoned former U.S. Rep. Michael Grimm, a New York Republican who resigned from Congress after a tax fraud conviction and made headlines for threatening to throw a reporter off a Capitol balcony over a question he didn’t like. The president also pardoned reality TV stars Todd and Julie Chrisley, who had been convicted of cheating banks and evading taxes.