Trump pardons former Tennessee House speaker convicted of federal public
corruption charges
[November 07, 2025]
By WILL WEISSERT
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump has pardoned the former
Tennessee House speaker and a onetime aide of public corruption charges
after the White House said the Biden administration Justice Department
“significantly over-prosecuted” both for a minor issue.
Former Republican state Rep. Glen Casada was sentenced in September to
three years in prison, and his former chief of staff, Cade Cothren, was
also convicted and received a 2 1/2-year prison sentence. The case
centered on their actions after both had been driven from their
leadership roles and were accused of running a scheme to win
taxpayer-funded mail business from lawmakers.
The moves continued a pattern of Trump, a Republican, using his second
term to bestow unlikely pardons on political allies, prominent public
figures and others convicted of defrauding the public.
Many of the clemencies he granted have targeted criminal cases once
touted as just by the Justice Department. They also have come amid a
continuing Trump administration effort to erode public integrity
guardrails — including the firing of the department’s pardon attorney
and the near-dismantling of a prosecution unit established to hold
public officials accountable for abusing the public trust.
According to prosecutors, Cothren launched a company called Phoenix
Solutions — with the knowledge and support of Casada and then-Rep. Robin
Smith. The three claimed the company was run by “Matthew Phoenix,” later
determined to be fictitious. The companies controlled by Casada and
Smith received roughly $52,000 in taxpayer money in 2020 from a mailer
program for lawmakers.
A “Matthew Phoenix” signature ended up on an IRS tax document. A
purported associate of that fictitious person was portrayed by Casada’s
then-girlfriend, prosecutors said.
That all followed Casada having resigned as speaker in 2019 after a
no-confidence vote by fellow Republicans due to swirling scandals —
including revelations that he exchanged sexually explicit text messages
about women with Cothren years ago.
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Former Tennessee House Speaker Glen Casada arrives at the federal
courthouse in Nashville, Tenn., on May 9, 2025. (AP Photo/George
Walker IV, File)
Cothren also left his post over those texts and racist texts,
coupled with an admission that he used cocaine inside a legislative
office building during a previous job.
A White House official said Thursday night that Trump approved the
pardons for Casada and Cothren because the Department of Justice
under Trump's Democratic predecessor, Joe Biden, “significantly
over-prosecuted these individuals for a minor issue.”
The official spoke on background to discuss a pardon that had not
yet been publicly released, but said the case against Casada and
Cothren involved constituent mailers, which were billed at
competitive prices, and that the case was brought despite
prosecutors not having received a complaint from legislators.
The scheme also resulted in a net profit loss of less than $5,000,
said the official, who noted that the case featured an armed raid,
perp walk and the potential for lengthy prison terms — things often
more appropriate for federal cases involving frauds worth multiple
millions of dollars.
Trump's moves for Casada and Cothren follow his previous pardon of
Democratic former Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich and Republican
ex-Connecticut Gov. John Rowland, whose promising political career
was upended by a corruption scandal and two federal prison stints.
Trump also pardoned former U.S. Rep. Michael Grimm, a New York
Republican who resigned from Congress after a tax fraud conviction
and made headlines for threatening to throw a reporter off a Capitol
balcony over a question he didn’t like. The president also pardoned
reality TV stars Todd and Julie Chrisley, who had been convicted of
cheating banks and evading taxes.
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