NASHVILLE, Tennessee — President Donald Trump has pardoned former Tennessee House Speaker Glen Casada and his onetime chief of staff, Cade Cothren, who were convicted in a public corruption case involving a taxpayer-funded mailer scheme. The White House said the Biden administration’s Justice Department “significantly over-prosecuted” the pair for what it described as a minor issue.
Casada was sentenced in September to three years in prison, while Cothren received a two-and-a-half-year sentence. Prosecutors said they created a fake company, Phoenix Solutions, posing under the name “Matthew Phoenix,” to profit from mailer contracts with state lawmakers. The company collected roughly $52,000 in taxpayer funds in 2020, though a White House official said the scheme resulted in a net loss of less than $5,000.
Trump’s pardons continue a pattern of granting clemency to political allies and public figures convicted of corruption, including former governors Rod Blagojevich and John Rowland, and ex-congressman Michael Grimm. Casada resigned as House Speaker in 2019 after a no-confidence vote following separate scandals involving inappropriate texts and misconduct.
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