EXCLUSIVE Todd Chrisley said God appeared to him in a dream with a message about Trump during his first night in prison
Todd Chrisley detailed his harrowing first night serving time in prison during a sit-down interview this week with first daughter-in-law Lara Trump.
President Donald Trump announced last month that he had pardoned reality TV stars Todd and Julie Chrisley, the Chrisley Knows Best stars who were convicted in 2022 on federal bank and tax evasion charges.
Todd Chrisley started serving his sentence on January 17, 2023.
'I remember going in and that night, I was so angry with God and that night when the lights went out, I literally cried myself to sleep because it's the first time Julie and I have ever been away from each other since we had been married,' the Chrisley patriarch told Trump.
'I'd never not been in that house when my kids woke up in the morning or when they went to bed at night,' Chrisley recalled.
He was sentenced to 12 years - which was later knocked down to 10 - and served time at the Pensacola Federal Prison Camp in Florida, while wife Julie was imprisoned three states away at the Federal Medical Center Lexington in Kentucky.
'And I just said, God, why?' Chrisley continued. 'I've tried to be a loyal and faithful servant.'
'Why are you allowing this to happen? You know these things are not true,' he said.
Prosecutors pushed that the Chrisleys had used false documents and exaggerated financial statements to secure more than $30 million in loans, which they used to fund their lavish lifestyle, which was on full display on their reality TV show that went on for 10 seasons.
'And in my dream, God came to me and he said that I have planted you where I need you and when you leave, they will rise,' Chrisley recounted.
'I look back on that dream now and I now understand when he said "when you leave they will rise" because they're rising through President Trump,' the former reality TV star said. 'So I am grateful for that.'
President Trump had never met the Chrisleys but daughter Savannah spent two and a half years making a push for her parents release - immersing herself in the MAGAverse.
The 27-year-old became a fixture in MAGAworld as she worked toward getting her parents a pardon by the Republican commander-in-chief.
She attended the 2024 Republican National Convention and the 2025 Conservative Political Action Conference - both events where Trump was the headliner and aides and allies were everywhere.
Savannah also appeared on the sidelines of this year's White House Correspondents' Dinner, which took place in late April, shmoozing with a number of Washingtonians.
On May 27, Trump called Savannah from the Oval Office to inform her that he decided to pardon her reality star parents.
'That's a terrible thing, that's a terrible thing,' the president told Savannah. 'But it's a great thing because your parents are going to be free and clean and I hope we can do it by tomorrow, is that OK?'
'I don't know them, but give them my regards,' Trump also said. 'Wish them a good life.'
Savannah can be heard on the phone thanking the president and telling him her brother Grayson was on the line too.
Grayson, a 19-year-old student at the University of Alabama, piped up: 'Mr. President, I just want to say thank you for bringing my parents back.'
'Yeah, well, they were given a pretty harsh treatment from what I'm hearing,' Trump said.
Both Savannah and Grayson appeared alongside their parents for the Lara Trump interview.
The full-length interview with the Chrisley family will air as part of her show My View with Lara Trump on Fox News Channel Saturday night at 9 p.m. ET.
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