President Trump pardoned former Tennessee House Speaker and his top aide weeks after they were sentenced to prison on corruption charges.
Former Republican State Rep. Glen Casada and his former Chief of Staff Cade Cothren, were sentenced in September to 36 months in federal prison, and 30 months in federal prison, respectively, for “honest services wire fraud; conspiracy to commit money laundering; using a fictitious name to carry out a fraud; and money laundering,” the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Middle District of Tennessee explained.
“Yes the president called me today and granted me a full pardon. I am grateful of his trust and his full confidence in my innocence through this whole ordeal,” Casada said in a statement to WSMV4. “I’m a private citizen and looking forward to getting back to being with my family and friends. Literally hundreds of people have been praying for this and I’m thankful to the president and to the Lord for answering those prayers.”
A White House official told The Hill that the Biden-era Justice Department “significantly over-prosecuted these individuals for a minor issue involving constituent mailers — which were billed at competitive prices, never received a complaint from legislators, and resulted in a net profit loss of less than $5,000.”
“The Biden DOJ responded with an armed raid, perp walk and suggested sentences exceeding 10 years – penalties normally reserved for multimillion dollar fraudsters,” the official added.
Casada and Cothren were found guilty of the criminal actions in May. Beginning in late 2019, the two individuals, alongside former Tennessee State Representative Robin Smith, “engaged in a fraudulent scheme to enrich themselves by exploiting Casada and Smith’s official positions as legislators to obtain funds from the State of Tennessee,” the U.S. Attorney’s Office said.
