Former Tennessee House Speaker Glen Casada leaves courthouse in Nashville on September 25, 2025 after sentencing
President Donald Trump added to his growing list of shady pardons after it was announced on Friday that he granted the honor to two Republicans convicted for fraud.
Trump pardoned Glen Casada, former speaker of the Tennessee House of Representatives, along with his former chief of staff Cade Cothren. Casada and Cothren were convicted in September on multiple charges and sentenced to 36 months and 30 months in federal prison, respectively.
In a release at the time of their conviction, the FBI noted that the men had been found guilty of fraud, money laundering, and conspiracy. The government’s case alleged that Casada and Cothren defrauded the state by funneling over $50,000 of state funds to a sham business they set up that sent mail on behalf of lawmakers.
“The defendants abused their power as government officials and defrauded taxpayers for their own enrichment,” acting Assistant Attorney General Matthew R. Galeotti said at the time.
The Trump administration justified the pardon a mere 45 days later by alleging that the Biden administration’s prosecution of the two men was overzealous. In fact, the investigation began during Trump’s first term, and the duplicitous duo was tried in front of a judge appointed by Trump himself.
The case is the latest in a series of pardons and commutations by Trump of convicted criminals.
In October he pardoned Binance founder Changpeng Zhao after Zhao directed millions of dollars to the Trump family’s crypto dealings.
That same month he commuted the sentence of disgraced former Rep. George Santos (R-NY), despite his conviction on fraud charges after he was expelled from Congress.
Most infamously, Trump pardoned hundreds of his supporters who stormed and attacked the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, freeing them to commit all-new crimes—now with a presidential stamp of approval.
Trump has claimed that he is in favor of “law and order” to justify his constant stream of attacks on cities led by Democratic officials. But his stream of pardons and other dodgy actions reveal just how soft Trump— a convicted felon himself—is on crime.
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- Former Giuliani Associate Says He Offered To Sell Trump Pardons For $2 Million ›
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