‘Still don’t believe it’s real’: Savannah Chrisley reacts to parents being pardoned by Trump
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(WASHINGTON) — After hearing the news that President Donald Trump will pardon reality TV stars Todd and Julie Chrisley, who served time for tax evasion and bank fraud, their daughter, Savannah Chrisley, in a video on Instagram posted on Tuesday, celebrated the news.
“The president called me personally as I was walking into Sam’s Club and notified me that he was signing paper pardon paperwork for both of my parents,” Chrisley said in the Instagram video. “So both my parents are coming home tonight [Tuesday] or tomorrow [Wednesday], and I still don’t believe it’s real. I’m freaking out — the fact that the president called me.”
“I will forever be grateful for President Trump, his administration and everyone along the way, all of my lawyers, the people who put in countless hours and effort and love for my family to make sure that my parents got home,” the 27-year-old continued.
Chrisley emphasized that her parents now get a “fresh start” thanks to the pardon.
“My parents get to start their lives over… President Trump didn’t just commute their sentences, he gave them a full unconditional pardon. So for that, I am forever grateful,” Chrisley said.
Savannah Chrisley had previously appealed to the Trump administration for pardons for her parents and spoke at the 2024 Republican National Convention.
The couple, who became famous for their show “Chrisley Knows Best,” were sentenced in November 2022 to a combined 19 years in prison on charges including fraud and tax evasion.
Todd Chrisley was sentenced to 12 years in prison and 16 months of probation while Julie Chrisley was ordered to serve seven years in prison and 16 months of probation. The couple was also ordered to pay $17.8 million in restitution.
“Chrisley Knows Best” premiered in 2014 and followed the lavish lifestyle of wealthy real estate developer Todd Chrisley and his family.
The charges against the Chrisleys stem from activity that occurred at least as early as 2007, when the couple allegedly provided false information to banks and fabricated bank statements when applying for and receiving millions of dollars in loans, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office.
In 2014, two years after the alleged bank fraud scheme ended, the couple is accused of fabricating bank statements and a credit report that had “been physically cut and taped or glued together when applying for and obtaining a lease for a home in California.”
In a phone interview with ABC News on Tuesday, Savannah Chrisley told ABC News the call from Trump came “totally out of the blue.”
“I kind of had gotten to a place where I had lost hope, and just felt like nothing was going in my favor. And then I got the call … It was just a shock, and the president was so kind and loving. He’s the reason my family is coming back together,” Chrisley said. “I have always stood by him and his administration, and I will continue to stand by them and fight for them.”
(NEW YORK) — The third week of testimony in Sean “Diddy” Combs’ sex trafficking trial resumed on Tuesday with emotional testimony from the rap mogul’s former personal assistant, who testified about the violence and threats she said she witnessed on the job.
Crying at points on the witness stand, Capricorn Clark told jurors that she was told she would be “thrown into the East River” if she failed a lie detector test about the theft of Combs’ jewelry, that she was forced to accompany Combs to confront rival musician Kid Cudi, and how she witnessed Combs beat his ex-girlfriend, Cassie Ventura.
The intense testimony was complicated by an emotional cross-examination, as defense attorneys questioned Clark about her desire to reconcile with Combs and continue working with him.
“You want to work with him again?” defense attorney Marc Agnifilo pressed after showing messages where Clark sought to reconcile with Combs.
“I wanted to work in the music industry,” Clark replied.
Combs faces the possibility of life in prison if convicted on sex-trafficking and racketeering charges. Prosecutors allege he used his music empire — including his vast wealth and control over his employees — to run a criminal enterprise that used violence and threats to coerce women into sex and then enforce their silence. The trial has already seen the onetime cultural tastemaker and music industry titan reduced to a drug-addled abuser who led a sex life replete with voyeurism, orgies and prostitutes.
Combs has pleaded not guilty, and his lawyers have argued that Combs’ actions, while outside the mainstream, were a private matter and not criminal in nature.
“If you don’t convince him, I’m going to kill all you m————-.”
Last week, rapper and actor Kid Cudi — whose legal name is Scott Mescudi — told jurors that he believed Combs broke into his home in a spasm of jealousy after he learned Mescudi had been dating Combs’ ex-girlfriend, Ventura.
Mescudi offered few details about the alleged break-in, telling jurors he rushed over to his home after being tipped off by Clark. Once there, he testified he only found traces of Combs’ alleged actions, including finding Christmas gifts tampered with and his dog locked in his bathroom.
Taking the stand on Tuesday, Clark testified about that episode, which she said began in the early morning hours of Dec. 22, 2011, when a furious Combs arrived at her apartment with a handgun.
“He said, ‘Why didn’t you tell me?’ I said, ‘I don’t know what you’re talking about.’ He said, ‘Who is Scott?’ I said, ‘I don’t know Scott.’ He said, ‘Kid Cudi,'” Clark recalled.
When she protested, Clark testified Combs, gun allegedly in hand, told her, “I don’t give a f— what you want to do, go get dressed.”
Clark said she was forced to join Combs and a bodyguard named Ruben to drive to Mescudi’s home. While Combs and Ruben allegedly entered the house, Clark said she called Ventura to tell her about the break-in, warning Mescudi that he might “get himself killed” if he tried to intervene.
Later that day, Clark testified that Combs ordered her and the bodyguard to pick up Cassie and convince Mescudi not to tell police Combs was involved in the break-in at the house.
“If you don’t convince him, I’m going to kill all you m————-” Clark recalled Combs telling her. When she returned with Ventura, Clark said Combs, standing in his robe and underwear, began kicking Ventura.
She testified that Combs kicked Ventura repeatedly, “and each kick she would crouch into more and more a fetal position” until she was all the way to the street.
Asked why she did not intervene, Clark responded that Combs told her, “If I jump in, he was going to f— me up too.”
Breaking down on the witness stand, Clark told jurors she later called Ventura’s mother and urged her to report Combs to the police. “He’s beating the s— out of your daughter. Please help her. I can’t call the police, but you can,” she recounted to the jury.
Ventura’s mother testified last week that after she learned about Combs’ threat to release two sex tapes of her daughter, she took out a home equity loan to pay Combs $20,000, which was eventually returned to her.
Cross-examining Clark, Combs’ attorneys tried to cast doubt on the former assistant’s recollection of the events and suggested she accompanied Combs and Ruben willingly.
“You went because you were afraid he was going to do something stupid?” Agnifilo asked. “I went because he told me he didn’t care that I didn’t want to go,” Clark responded. “I did not want to go and it was not my choice, sir.”
“They’re going to throw you in the East River.”
Clark told jurors that working for Combs was fast-paced, intense and required loyalty. Within her first year working for Combs, she said she was forced to take a series of lie detector tests to prove she was not involved with the disappearance of three pieces of high-end jewelry Combs had given her.
After she reported the jewelry missing, Clark testified that she was locked inside the unfinished corporate headquarters of Combs’ Bad Boy Entertainment by a bodyguard nicknamed “Uncle Paulie.” Taken to the sixth floor of the building, Clark said she found “a heavy-set gentleman who was chain-smoking cigarettes and drinking black coffee.” She said the man told her, “I had been brought to the building to take a lie detector test to figure out what happened to this jewelry.”
If she flunked the test, she testified that the man told her, “They’re going to throw you in the East River.”
“I was petrified,” Clark said.
Clark said “Uncle Paulie” took her five days in a row to the same deserted location inside 1710 Broadway in Manhattan, near New York’s famous Carnegie Hall, for lie-detector tests.
“I wanted to prove my innocence. I didn’t like the threats,” Clark testified.
When she was allowed to return to work, Clark told the jury that Combs never mentioned the lie detector tests or inquired where she had been.
During a cross-examination that hopscotched from time period to time period, Capricorn Clark testified she did not know the connection between Sean Combs and the large man she remembered repeatedly administering the lie-detector test. She testified that Combs suspected her of stealing the jewelry, which had been loaned to Combs for his famous annual July 4 white party in the Hamptons.
“You don’t know what relationship he has to Mr. Combs?” defense attorney Marc Agnifilo asked. Clark responded that she did not know.
“I felt that I was somewhat of a protector for Puff.”
While prosecutors sought to use Clark’s testimony to highlight how Combs used his wealth, power, and employees to lead a criminal enterprise, defense attorneys attempted to undercut that narrative by highlighting messages that suggested Clark was eager to work for a man who held a singular position atop the worlds of music and culture.
Clark again broke down in tears and sobs when confronted by several emails she had sent to Combs. One, in 2014, said, “Hopefully you’ll forgive me soon. It’s been long enough. I feel like you’ve forgiven everyone else but me.”
A second one, in early 2015, said, “Sending you blessings and love for a new year.”
More tears flowed when Agnifilo showed Clark an email she sent to Combs on his birthday, Nov. 4, 2015. “My hope for this year is that you make good on your promise to get over things and actually be my friend again.”
Defense attorney Agnifilo kept asking why she wanted to work with Combs again.
“I wanted my life back, sir,” Clark explained.
“You want to work with him again?” Agnifilo asked.
“I wanted to work in the music industry,” Clark replied.
Federal prosecutors, resuming their questioning after the cross-examination, suggested Clark returned to work for Combs because he stymied her attempts to work elsewhere in the music industry.
“He held all the power as it related to me,” Clark testified through sobs.
Photo by Horacio Villalobos#Corbis/Corbis via Getty Images
(SOUTH PACIFIC) — A Carnival Cruise Line ship rescued four people and three dogs from a disabled catamaran caught in treacherous conditions in the South Pacific on Thursday morning, marking the second rescue operation by the cruise line in a week, according to a press release from Carnival Cruise Line.
“We were stuck in an interesting position,” one of the rescued passengers said in video obtained by ABC News. “We got demasted, lost our engines, and after we got demasted, it was stuck under the boat, and it was hitting it on every big wave.”
The Carnival Splendor diverted its course after receiving an alert from the Maritime Rescue Coordination Centre in Nouméa about a distress call. The ship reached the stranded vessel after a five-hour journey south of New Caledonia.
The situation had become increasingly dangerous for the stranded sailors.
“It was like four to five meters swell, 30 to 40 knot winds, and we’re in this massive lightning storm, and the swell was coming over the boat,” the rescued passenger said. “Yeah, we were dead in the water, 170 nautical miles off of New Caledonia with the three puppies.”
The rescued passengers—two couples and their three dogs—are now receiving food, water, and medical assistance aboard the Carnival Splendor.
“Luckily, Carnival, the captain here was an absolute legend came and he saved the day, and now the doggies get their first cruise,” the rescued passenger added.
The rescue operation won’t impact the cruise schedule, with the ship’s 3,300 passengers still set to visit Mystery Island and Noumea as planned before returning to Sydney on Tuesday. The Splendor departed Sydney on Monday for an eight-day round trip cruise to Vanuatu and New Caledonia, Carnival Cruise stated.
This rescue follows another recent Carnival Cruise Line operation in which the Carnival Paradise rescued five men from a makeshift raft south of Cuba last week, according to video obtained by FOX35.
(ALLEGANY COUNTY, MD) — A flash flood emergency has been issued for parts of northwestern Maryland on Tuesday, where severe flooding led to the evacuation of two elementary schools.
A flash flood emergency was issued for Westernport, Luke and Barton in Allegany County, where up to 5 inches of rain had fallen as of Tuesday afternoon. Rainfall rates were up to 1 to 2 inches an hour.
Numerous water rescues have occurred, including at two elementary schools in Allegany County, officials said.
About 200 students and teachers were evacuated from Westernport Elementary School in Westernport by motorized boats to a nearby church, Allegany County officials confirmed to ABC News.
All students and staff were safely evacuated, according to the Allegany County Department of Emergency Services. The Allegany County Sheriff’s Office led the evacuation efforts and the Maryland State Police were assisting with the reunification of students.
Students at Georges Creek Elementary in Lonaconing were also being evacuated to a nearby high school, the Allegany County Department of Emergency Services said Tuesday afternoon.
Students at Westmar Middle School in Lonaconing were sheltering in place, the department said. Family reunifications have been delayed due to ongoing road closures caused by flooding, a government source told ABC News. No injuries at been reported at this time.
State police were helping with additional road closures due to high water.
County officials urged drivers to avoid all flooded roadways and not attempt to drive through standing water.
“Severe flooding is currently impacting Georges Creek and surrounding areas in Allegany County due to rising water levels,” the Allegany County Department of Emergency Services said in a social media post Tuesday afternoon. “Multiple areas have already been evacuated.”
More than 15 million Americans across the Mid-Atlantic remain on alert for flooding and heavy rain on Tuesday into Wednesday.
A flood watch remains in effect for portions of east-central North Carolina, east-central Virginia, eastern West Virginia, west-central Maryland and central Pennsylvania until Wednesday morning. That includes the cities of Raleigh, North Carolina; Richmond, Virginia; and Hagerstown, Maryland.
Pockets of heavy rain and showers are expected to continue from North Carolina up to Pennsylvania on Tuesday into Wednesday. Some of these heavier pockets could feature strong to severe storms capable of producing some hail, isolated damaging wind gusts, and an isolated tornado, especially for east-central North Carolina and east-central Virginia.
The heavier pockets of rain will be focused more over Maryland, Delaware, and Pennsylvania, with lighter rain in the surrounding areas.
