Former Tennessee House Speaker Glen Casada exits with his wife, Michelle Greene Casada, after his sentencing at the Fred Thompson Courthouse and Federal Building in Nashville, Tenn., Tuesday, Sept. 23, 2025.
Cade Cothren leaves Fred D. Thompson U.S. Courthouse and Federal Building in Nashville, Tenn., with Ava Korby after being sentenced to two and a half years in prison for corruption tied to a political mailer scheme Tuesday, Sept. 16, 2025.

Former Tennessee House Speaker Glen Casada and his top aide Cade Cothren will receive pardons from President Donald Trump, a White House official confirmed to USA TODAY.

Casada and Cothren had been convicted at trial of more than a dozen public corruption charges related to a scheme where prosecutors said they, along with former state Rep. Robin Smith, R-Hixson, defrauded taxpayers through a state-funded legislative mailer program.

The two men were weeks away from being behind bars. In September, U.S. District Judge Eli Richardson ordered Casada to self report to the Federal Bureau of Prisons on Nov. 21, where he was to serve a three-year prison term. He ordered Cothren to self report to prison Nov. 17 to serve a 2.5-year prison term.

Cothren's attorney Joy Boyd Longnecker confirmed over text Nov. 6 that Cothren, once Casada's chief of staff, "received a call from President Trump today, who informed him that he would be receiving a full and unconditional pardon." Longnecker said she would share a "more fulsome statement" the next day. Casada's attorney Jonathan Farmer did not confirm if Casada had received a pardon at 5:40 p.m. Nov. 6.

The pardons did not yet show on the U.S. Department of Justice Office of the Pardon Attorney's website at 7:56 p.m. Nov. 6.

It does not appear Smith has received a pardon. Her attorney Ben Rose wrote in a post on X, "Justice requires a pardon for the cooperator." Smith pleaded guilty shortly after being charged in 2022 and testified against her co-defendants at trial.

She was sentenced to eight months in prison.

This is not the first time this year Trump has pardon a convicted Tennessee Republican lawmaker.

In March, former state Sen. Brian Kelsey received a pardon from Trump, just two weeks after he reported to federal prison to serve a 21-month sentence for an illegal campaign finance scheme he pleaded guilty to in 2022.

In addition to the prison terms they were facing, Richardson had also ordered Casada to pay a $30,000 fine and repay $4,600 he earned through criminal conduct and Cothren to pay a $25,000 fine and repay the money earned through criminal conduct, which Richardson determined was $10,600.

Have questions about the justice system? Evan Mealins is the justice reporter for The Tennessean. Contact him with questions, tips or story ideas at emealins@tennessean.com.

This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: Ex-Tennessee House Speaker Casada, top aide pardoned by Trump, White House confirms

Reporting by Evan Mealins and Joey Garrison, Nashville Tennessean / Nashville Tennessean

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