NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WSMV) – Ex-Tennessee Senator Brian Kelsey was pardoned by President Donald Trump on Tuesday afternoon.

Kelsey, who was sentenced to 21 months in prison, pleaded guilty in November 2022 to an illegal campaign finance scheme. He was sentenced on charges related to attempts to funnel campaign money from his legislative seat toward his failed 2016 congressional bid. This came almost a year after his October 2021 indictment. He later tried and failed to take back his plea, the Associated Press reported.

In February 2025, he became an inmate at FCI Ashland in Kentucky, the Associated Press said. He was ordered to arrive at the prison’s minimum security satellite camp for a 21-month sentence.

Kelsey deemed the case a witch hunt and blamed the Democratic administration of then-President Joe Biden.

The former senator announced his pardon on X, formerly known as Twitter.

He said in the tweet, “God used Donald Trump to save me from the weaponized Biden DOJ.

Kelsey said he received the pardon form on Tuesday afternoon from an act he said even his chief accuser admitted he didn’t commit.

“Thank you for all your prayers,” Kelsey said. “Praise the Lord most high! May God bless America, despite the prosecutorial sins it committed against me, President Trump, and others the past four years. And God bless Donald J. Trump for Making America Great Again.”

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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