Ex-tennessee Lawmaker Announces Trump's Pardon 2 Weeks Into Prison Time For Campaign Finance Scheme

A former Republican Tennessee lawmaker says President Donald Trump has pardoned him two weeks into his 21-month prison sentence for an illegal campaign finance scheme that he pleaded guilty to in 2022, before he tried unsuccessfully to take back his plea.

Former Sen. Brian Kelsey announced that he received a "full and unconditional pardon" in a social media post Tuesday evening. He had been ordered to report to FCI Ashland's minimum security satellite camp in Kentucky on Feb. 24. A federal database said Kelsey was no longer in Bureau of Prisons custody as of Tuesday.

"May God bless America, despite the prosecutorial sins it committed against me, President Trump, and others the past four years," Kelsey said in the post.

The 47-year-old pleaded guilty in November 2022 to charges related to his attempts to funnel campaign money from his state legislative seat toward his failed 2016 congressional bid.

Kelsey was indicted in October 2021. He initially labeled the prosecution a witch hunt and blamed the Democratic administration of then-President Joe Biden. But when a co-defendant pleaded guilty the following October, Kelsey quickly did as well.