Shock & Awe (feat. Steve McBee)

Summary

Podcast Summary: Chrisley Confessions 2.0

Episode: Shock & Awe (feat. Steve McBee)
Date: December 3, 2025
Host: Todd Chrisley
Guest: Steve McBee

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Overview

This emotionally charged episode reunites Todd Chrisley and guest Steve McBee for an in-depth, unfiltered conversation about the impact of high-profile legal prosecutions on their families, reputations, and faith. Drawing on their recent personal experiences with the federal justice system and media scrutiny, Todd and Steve share candid reflections on justice, resilience, fatherhood, and public life. The episode is a compelling window into what happens when "shock and awe" prosecution tactics collide with real families—and how the accused pick up the pieces.

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Key Discussion Points and Insights

How Todd and Steve Connected

• [00:33] Todd introduces Steve McBee, mentioning their initial contact through a mutual showrunner, Blaze, and watching each other's shows.
• Steve is recognized as the patriarch of a family-focused reality show on Bravo.
• Both share histories of being high-profile, media-covered litigants in federal courts.

Building a Reality TV Empire

• [05:08] Steve explains how reality TV came to his family, beginning with his son Stephen on “Joe Millionaire,” and how their family’s dynamic led to a McBee-centered show.
• Industry insights: The difficulty of getting shows greenlit during economic downturns, choosing NBC Universal/Peacock over Netflix for ultimate longevity, and similarities (“Yellowstone was popping”).

Legal Troubles and Shock Prosecution

• [09:00 – 14:48] Steve describes being indicted on a single count of making a false statement to crop insurance—a clerical error discovered after years of audits, intensified by their TV fame.
• Both Todd and Steve recount prosecutors using charges and media attention as “trophies,” leveraging family members for plea bargains.
• Todd recounts specific threats from prosecutors to pursue charges against his wife, children, and even mother if he didn’t cooperate ([16:13]).

The Mechanics of the Cases

• [25:10] Steve details the complexity and scale of his farming business (44,000 acres, 75+ employees), illustrating how simple administrative mistakes can be weaponized in federal prosecutions.
• Both express frustration that such “clickbait” cases, often involving complex business or clerical errors, are treated as criminal fraud.
  • Steve: “They audited all three years … and found a clerical issue on one half field … so minor a mistake that I didn’t make, my son didn’t make…” ([25:54])

Prosecutorial Tactics & Plea Deal Decisions

• [34:14] Steve explains accepting a plea deal for his family's protection, after being told: “Plea out to one count … or we’re going to charge your son, all the companies, [with] 27 federal indictments by Thursday.”
• Both men criticize prosecutors for valuing convictions and headlines over truth or proportionality:
  • Todd: “You can go to prison because a prosecutor says, ‘You should have known.’” ([30:11])
  • Steve: “They wanted, they, they had it all preprinted. … We just want a plea to put your name in the paper.” ([32:37])

Reflections on the Justice System

• [40:42] Todd recounts prosecutorial misconduct and misleading tactics used during his trial. Both men agree that prosecutors and some judges pursue career advancement over justice.
• The system targets high-profile defendants for notoriety while ignoring actual harm or victimization: “Where’s the victim? It’s a victimless crime.” ([49:16])

Personal and Family Impact

• [61:24] Steve shares feelings about the toll on his sons and granddaughters as he faces imprisonment: “I think it’s hardest … I have two granddaughters. That’s the hardest for me, that I can’t think about them at all.”
• Both discuss the importance of faith, resilience, and focusing on silver linings, with Todd encouraging Steve that prison “will be a season that vets out the people in your life.”

Advice and Brotherhood

• Todd offers guidance for surviving and finding purpose during incarceration, highlighting positive changes in prison administration and laws like the First Step Act:
  • “You should give thanks to President Trump for the First Step act, because that is going to reduce your sentence by roughly 48 to 50%.” ([51:09])
• Steve and Todd both express gratitude for friendship forged in adversity and commit to supporting each other and fellow inmates.

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On Prosecutorial Motivation:

  • Todd: “What has come out since our conviction and since we were pardoned by President Trump is that we were targeted.” ([04:26])
  • Steve: “It was a clerical issue. And then you get there … and they’re not letting up on it.” ([35:53])

• On Parenting and Accountability:

  • Steve: “I have great kids, young men now... I love my kids, but I discipline my kids. Work ethic means everything to me.” ([13:22])
  • Todd: “Rather than look at this as a negative, look at this as God shedding light on your life … this is your culling season.” ([52:25])

• On Justice System Failings:

  • Todd: “If you go in that courtroom and you lie just to get a conviction …that’s exactly [who should be held] accountable.” ([46:27])
  • Steve: “They have immunity, right? Prosecutorial immunity. And they exercise it like they’re God.” ([46:22])

• On Media and Public Perception:

  • Todd: “Because our name sells. Clicks, clickbait and so it was $36 million. Then it went down to 17 million. Then in the end, it went down to 4 million.” ([29:03])
  • Steve: “I can’t open Instagram without my picture on it.” ([39:12])

• On Facing Prison:

  • Steve: “I will never be a victim, and I say that to everybody. They’re not going to make me a victim. … I raised four lions, not four sheep.” ([51:49])
  • Todd: “Wear your badge as if you went to war, because that’s what you’re getting ready to do … not physically, but mentally and emotionally, you’re going to war.” ([64:42])

• On Faith and Finding Meaning:

  • Steve: “At the end of the day, God gives us challenges… so when we got to take the bad and the challenges, you look at Job and what he went through.” ([53:08])
  • Todd: “When you’re uncomfortable, that is your greatest growth period.” ([60:10])

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Timestamps for Key Segments

• Introductions, Reality Show Background – [00:33 – 09:00]
• Legal Indictment Begins – [09:00 – 14:48]
• Federal Plea Bargaining & Family Leverage – [15:42 – 16:13]
• Details of Indictment & Nature of 'Fraud' – [25:10 – 35:53]
• Reflections on the Justice System – [40:42 – 43:05], [46:22 – 48:47]
• Effects on Family and Moving Forward – [61:24 – 66:18]
• Brotherhood, Advice for Imprisonment – [51:09], [63:31 – 67:59]

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Tone and Language

The entire conversation remains open, raw, and bracingly honest. Todd’s Southern humor and directness lighten intense subjects, while both men use tough-love, paternal tones—equal parts grievance, hope, and gratitude. There’s an undercurrent of faith, despite their mutual skepticism toward the current justice system.

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This episode offers a deeply personal exploration of life under "shock and awe" prosecutions, interwoven with themes of family loyalty, justice, and redemption. It’s an invaluable listen for anyone interested in the human side of headline-making legal sagas.

Transcript

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[Todd Chrisley]

Steve. So good to have you here today, Todd.

[Steve McBee]

Thank you so much. I'm. I look forward to meeting you in person. I know we've communicated a lot, and I've just been excited to meet you and. And your family. I mean, just great family. And, you know, I look at that, and I'm a family man myself. I can appreciate, you know, especially now, what you guys have been through and how you've held it together.

[Todd Chrisley]

Well, you know, let's. Let's let everyone know exactly who you are and how you and I became acquainted. You have a show that it's on Bravo, which I wasn't aware of because I was, unfortunately, at my retreat.

[Steve McBee]

I call it Mike, I'm going on my sabbatical. That's what I tell her. That's it. The first one I've ever taken in my life. I finally get a break, and everyone else has to stay in roll.

[Todd Chrisley]

And unfortunately, you have your first break in a shitty. But. So your show's on Bravo.

[Steve McBee]

Correct.

[Todd Chrisley]

You're the patriarch.

[Steve McBee]

Correct.

[Todd Chrisley]

And you have three boys. Four boys. You have four boys.

[Steve McBee]

Four boys.

[Todd Chrisley]

You have Stephen.

[Steve McBee]

Jesse.

[Todd Chrisley]

Jesse Cole, and Braden. Braden, yes. Now, folks, I did not watch this show because, again, I didn't have Bravo where I was at. But I did start watching the show when I came home, because your showrunner and one of our showrunners, Blaze.

[Steve McBee]

We love Blaze.

[Todd Chrisley]

We love Blaze. Blaze told me that she was on this show, and so I got a phone call one day, and she said, todd, she says, I have someone that's in a bad situation, and I love the family. I did this show. She said, I'm sure you haven't watched it. It's on Bravo. She tells me about it. She said, would you talk to him and kind of let him know, you know, what the process was that you went through? And I said, absolutely. And so then she gave me your number, and I called you, and then you and I started talking, and then I started watching the show, and I'm like, okay, I get it. I get it. And you Know, and I am a. I do critique shows and watch things, and I'm like, I don't know that I would watch that again or, you know, because I want to know what, what can I take from that, learn from that, that we spill over into our show. And so you have a good show.

[Steve McBee]

Well, thank you.

[Todd Chrisley]

I love the dynamics of the show.

[Steve McBee]

Thank you.

[Todd Chrisley]

I love the dynamics of the boys. I hate the dynamics that you're having to go through right now. Because as you know and as the whole world knows, Julie and I went through the federal system. We were targeted by two rogue prosecutors. And I always like to give my rogue prosecutors credit. I like to make sure that I name them. So Tommy Krepp and Anneliese Peters were our rogue prosecutors in the state of Georgia. Now, granted, neither one of them are with the U.S. attorney's office anymore. Tommy Krep wanted to use our name to catapult him into a position in a large firm just like Anneliese Peters did. That didn't work out well for them, Steve. You know, Tommy is, to the last of my understanding, is pushing papers in a little corner office for the fdic. So he spent his whole career, you know, longing to be in that ivory tower. And he wanted to use our family to try to tear us down and use us as a stepping stone to elevate him because he couldn't get there any other way because he was just a lackluster attorney anyway. And then you had someone like Annelise Peters who just wasn't. You know, some people say that I, that I say things I shouldn't say, but, I mean, I'm noted for that. So I'll just say, you know, Annelise Peters, she should have been a great attorney because she didn't spend much time on her appearance. She wasn't an attractive girl, and, you know, she didn't know what the hell she was doing either. But with that being said, neither one of them are with the U.S. attorney's office anymore. What has come out since our conviction and since we were pardoned by President Trump is that we were targeted. The inspector general has released a report and said that we were targeted and. Which probably is going to spill into your story as I want you to tell it, because your situation occurred how long before you came on television?

[Steve McBee]

Well, so it would have. We were filming season one. We, we got served. But to predicate that my son did a show before that. Two years.

[Todd Chrisley]

Right.

[Steve McBee]

And we, we know Stephen. Stephen, my oldest. Yes, I should be specific. So he did a show it was a remake of Joe Millionaire was called and they did it 20 years ago on Fox and they had like 41 million viewers for the season finale.

[Todd Chrisley]

Right.

[Steve McBee]

Of you know, on that. So they wanted that they wanted to, you know, preface with that how to back into it. And they couldn't trick everybody. Again. The girls that were on the dating, right. So they come out with Joe Millionaire for richer or poor and they had two guys and. And that's how they did that show. It was like a 20 year reunion that they were doing that on Fox. One was they were trying to hide which one had money, which one didn't and trick so the girls wouldn't know because the first guy was a construction worker.

[Todd Chrisley]

Right.

[Steve McBee]

Make a dollar nineteen an hour. And I mean I'm a construction worker. So you know. Yeah, because we've all.

[Todd Chrisley]

And we've all had jobs to where, you know. Because I mean I didn't come from money so I'm not belittling anybody. Right.

[Steve McBee]

So that's clear. But so they said he inherited $50 million, which was a big lie. And so the girls, you know, they were. The dating show was did they love him for like him or for the money.

[Todd Chrisley]

Right.

[Steve McBee]

And so how to bring that back because all the girls would have known they had to put two guys on there. That's how they were. They didn't know which one was which.

[Todd Chrisley]

Right.

[Steve McBee]

They come to our farm and they brought the final six girls to the ranch. So at the ranch, the production company met all of us and everything we had going and they're like, your family is dynamic. They would be a great reality show. We're going to come back and we want to film a reality show, blah, blah, blah. The next. As that progressed the next year we had like four or five production companies reaching out, wanting to do it. And the premise on that was like this. Yellowstone was the number one show in America.

[Todd Chrisley]

So my favorite show.

[Steve McBee]

Yeah, love it. And so they had. They're like, you guys check Every. We've interviewed 100 families. You guys check every box plus boxes we don't even have.

[Todd Chrisley]

Right.

[Steve McBee]

So you're the perfect family for this. You know, we want to do this show. We ended up, you know, kind of vetting coming down to Jeff Jenkins Productions who was Jeff Jenkins produced the Kardashians for 10 years, kind of some other things. So they had a lot of connections and then, you know, everything was kind of crazy in the economy. Right. That year Silicon Valley bank had failed. Bank rates were going like this.

[Todd Chrisley]

Right.

[Steve McBee]

Everybody's throwing the word, the R word around recession. Recession.

[Todd Chrisley]

Right.

[Steve McBee]

So, you know, when they, when they pitched our. Our trailer and our show to the networks, they had cut back like, like 70% on shows that year. All the networks had.

[Todd Chrisley]

Right.

[Steve McBee]

And reality shows were really being.

[Todd Chrisley]

That's right. It's only 1%.

[Steve McBee]

1%. And so then we ended up getting in a bidding war and they had like Discovery, Netflix, every. So everybody was like, this is crazy. Kind of shell shock that. But you know, if you look at country and where it's at, you know, everybody's coming back to their rich, which is good for the country, you know, And Yellowstone was popping. You know, star singers are. Beyonce's going country.

[Todd Chrisley]

Right.

[Steve McBee]

Everything's going country. So it's a timing thing. And I think we hit the. Well, strike while the iron's hot. And so we ended up meeting with the production company, deciding on NBC Universal Peacock, because they were.

[Todd Chrisley]

Christine knows Best.

[Steve McBee]

They were saying that, hey, if it does well, they'll run this show till the wheels fall off. 10 years.

[Todd Chrisley]

Well, look at what they've done with Christina's best.

[Steve McBee]

You guys have. Yeah, just rock and roll year after year.

[Todd Chrisley]

That's right.

[Steve McBee]

But you guys have interesting content. You're got a dynamic, you know, it's all the right things that people want to listen to. And so, you know, Netflix, we were kind of like, wow, Netflix the 900 pound gorilla.

[Todd Chrisley]

Right.

[Steve McBee]

But they had a new CEO and they were saying they only wanted like he wanted new content every three to four years. You could be a top five show and get axed.

[Todd Chrisley]

That's right.

[Steve McBee]

Because they wanted new.

[Todd Chrisley]

Wants to keep it. He wants to keep it fresh.

[Steve McBee]

Fresh. And so that's why that, that made that decision to go with where we.

[Todd Chrisley]

Right. So, so now when you started your show, but now you were your. You pled guilty because you were indicted.

[Steve McBee]

Yes.

[Todd Chrisley]

And you were indicted for giving one.

[Steve McBee]

Count of a fraudulent statement to crop insurance.

[Todd Chrisley]

Okay.

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[Todd Chrisley]

But when that happened, was that, did that false statement happen prior to you ever being on television?

[Steve McBee]

So that statement. So our show was already filmed. We were on episode 10. It had not aired yet. And they were just starting the investigation. Okay, okay, so. And when that investigator started, he had told my son, I watched all your show. Watch your. All your Instagram. That's the point. I stalked him. It's not like he did. And as a matter of fact, my. One of my attorneys told me, I've never seen anybody want somebody so bad.

[Todd Chrisley]

So where it was with us, Trophy.

[Steve McBee]

Prosecution at the highest level.

[Todd Chrisley]

That's right.

[Steve McBee]

And so, like, you know, he wanted, like, he wanted him so bad. And, and he's like, I don't understand. Like, we would make jokes. We're like, stephen, did you. Did you date his girlfriend at some time? Did. Were they laying in bed and him say, hey? And she say, that's my hall pass. And he's like, oh, really? Well, let me show you my authority.

[Todd Chrisley]

Right.

[Steve McBee]

I don't know. It was a crazy deal because I, And, And I'm, of course, I'm a proud father as you are.

[Todd Chrisley]

Right.

[Steve McBee]

But I have great kids, young men now. I mean, we had the superintendent of the school district reach out to me and say, in all our years in administration, you know, Stephen and Jesse are the most highly touted kids we've ever had come through the school district. They're so respectful, they're so kind. I mean, all state quarterback, all state running back, number one, academically number two. You know, they were. We were the great kids, Great kids. And I love my kids, but I discipline my kids. Work ethic means everything to me, you know, and so, I don't know, it was just. I've been through so many audits being in business for 33 years. I started Landel Communications when I was 21 years old. My first company, and all I knew was work. My dad said, you tell a person's work ethic based on their. Or their, Their character based on their work ethic.

[Todd Chrisley]

That's right.

[Steve McBee]

And so for me, all I, you know, I wanted my kids to work hard and be good, good, good to other people.

[Todd Chrisley]

Right?

[Steve McBee]

And so, you know, you work hard. You know, everyone else is at the bars or sitting on their couch at five. We're working 70, 80 hours, seven days a week. Things pay off.

[Todd Chrisley]

That's right.

[Steve McBee]

And. And it did. That. That's what makes America great.

[Todd Chrisley]

Right, Right. So you had a false statement on a crop insurance application.

[Steve McBee]

Yes. So let me, Let me explain how that came down, because that was a crazy ordeal. I've been through so many audits. Like I said, like, you know, irs, every audit under the sun. I mean, I had. I've had 59 LLCs.

[Todd Chrisley]

Right.

[Steve McBee]

Throughout my tenure of business.

[Todd Chrisley]

Right.

[Steve McBee]

And I knew once we had the information, I said, okay, they're doing an audit. I really kind of brushed it off because I'm like, they're doing an investigative audit. Great. Do it. We'll provide all the information. They'll see that we didn't do anything. It'll go away like the other ones did. And I got a call from my attorney in October. The election was November 5th for President Trump and this last DOJ. And I'll dive into that in a minute. I should probably know where I'll go with that. We. But they literally came to me and he said. He called me up, said, steve, I need to meet with you. And it was a Tuesday. I said, okay, can we meet Thursday at whatever. Looked at my schedule. He's like, oh, no, we got to meet today. Okay. I canceled my afternoon meetings, drove down to meet with my attorney. We basically got what was a BFO as what was best and final offer right. From my prosecutor that U.S. attorney's office.

[Todd Chrisley]

Right. You have 48 hours to accept this.

[Steve McBee]

Here's what's going to happen. You as an individual, Steve A. McBee, are going to. If you plea out to one count of giving a fraudulent statement to crop insurance, then we will only. We will accept that plea. If you don't do that, we're going to charge your son, all the companies, everything else, with 27 federal indictments by Thursday.

[Todd Chrisley]

So now, see, I went through that, saying something similar because Tommy Krepp, when I would not accept that I had done anything that was wrong, he said that he was going after my wife. If he doesn't. If he does not come in and sit down with us and accept responsibility for some of these counts, we're going after his wife, we're going after Chase, we're going after Savannah.

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We're to going.

[Todd Chrisley]

We may even go after his mother. And I'm wording it exactly the way he said it. We may even go after his mother. And I remember Bruce Morris, one of our attorneys, calling me and saying, telling me this, and I said, what'd you say? He said, I laughed and said, you go ahead and go after Nanny Faye. Let's see how well that works for you. And so we had to hire attorneys for the kids because they were going to have to testify to the grand jury chasing Savannah. So we had to get an attorney. They tried to. Well, our attorneys were going to represent them. The prosecutor said, absolutely not. They must have their own attorneys trying to, you know, to force Us to spend more money. So they got. We hired them their own attorneys. And I remember that judge, you know, pushing back on the prosecutor that at that time, not the same judge that we had at trial, but I remember that judge saying, no, we're not doing this. They're fine. They understand that if this goes to trial, that there. If there's anything adversarial, they'll have to have their own attorneys. And so I remember them having to go testify in front of the grand jury. And the. And this Anneliese Peters tried. She misled the grand jury. And Savannah called her out and she says, no, ma'. Am. Read the rest of the email where my dad is saying that if you take this payment, you will be responsible for 38% tax on it. So understand that is the. That this number is less 38% for your taxes. See, she left that out because she wanted to make it that this was a tax case. So I know that what you're saying is true. By the way they handle that because they tried to do that with us. And, you know, I remember thinking, I was in shock that this had actually happened because I had to see, you know, I had a CEO that had embezzled about $6 million, 5.7 or something like that. And we'd been fighting with him since 2012. When we found out about this and we reported it, our attorneys reported it to the district attorney's office there in Atlanta, Paul Howard, who said they didn't have the resources for a case like this, that this was a lot of money involved. The company was a. That this was a financial divorce between two partners. And we filed a federal lawsuit against him. And the. Tommy Crap. The prosecutor at that or the U.S. attorney at that time looked at the case and said, there's nothing here. What we do know is that the business partner has embezzled millions of dollars from this family. So that's what that's going to be our witness to go in and go. To go against the Chrisleys. No. So they did away with it. In 2014, we come on television and the show takes off and it becomes a huge hit. And Tommy Crap, needing to get out of that U.S. attorney's office to try to get into a law firm focused on us, he started going through dead files, trying to find something that had a high profile to it. And, you know, this to show you they knew that he had done things that were unethical and he had listened. There were other cases that were filed in the Fulton county federal court that Tommy Crap had lied and misled the courts on other cases and had been and had been told by attorneys, if you ever do that, not attorneys, but judges, you better not ever let this happen again. But he kept doing it and with us. And I kept looking at all this stuff when my attorneys would bring it to me, and I said, why is this guy still able to practice if a federal judge knows that he misled him, why wouldn't they take his license? And, you know, but unfortunately, I now understand the legal system. A federal judge is an attorney, and a federal judge becomes a federal judge after being an attorney and after being appointed to that position, well, now the people that he buddied with and hung out at the bars with and played golf with are now coming in front of him. So if you got a good relationship with that judge, that judge is going to rule in the way that your friendship is.

[Steve McBee]

Absolutely.

[Todd Chrisley]

And so when I started looking at your case and researching was so reminiscent of a U.S. attorney that was reaching, looking for some notoriety, because you understand that right now there's 1.4 million cases of PPP fraud. You know, that the loans for sure that was put out, that the government put out with no regulation, no oversight, nothing. And then you wonder why fraud happened.

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[Todd Chrisley]

But 1.4 cases that are sitting around the country waiting to be prosecuted. 1.4 million. And yet they pick you.

[Steve McBee]

And the funny thing is like I hear you know you see the comments and I don't care about I mean.

[Todd Chrisley]

I love a good hater. I love a good hater.

[Steve McBee]

Have had it. There's so incompetent. It just blows my mind how they their lack of understanding or knowledge. But here's the thing with our case. It's so absurd when you know just the smallest detail. If you read they audited three years we were like one of the largest Farmers in the state of Missouri, like in 2020, which was Covid, we didn't get our H2A workers. There was. We farmed three different states. Missouri, Kansas, or Missouri, Iowa and Arkansas. 44,000 acres. That's like almost 70 square miles across. Like nine hundred and twenty three fields.

[Todd Chrisley]

Right.

[Steve McBee]

But they audited all three years. 20, 18, 19 and 20.

[Todd Chrisley]

Right.

[Steve McBee]

And they found a clerical issue on one half field. I call it a half mistake. It was the half mistake. So in 2020, they found one field that we were there May 20th. And we planted a little bit over half of that field, right. And then we finished that field like June 18th. Well, the cutoff for reporting was like June 10th or 11th. Every county varies, right? And they literally said our entire insurance claim was null and void for all for those years. Like, so when you look at that and you, you imagine a clerical issue that I didn't run the tractor, I didn't plant. I mean, I have 75 employees, you know, across everything. And I, I always, you know, I compare it to this one of the analogies I use. And, and they do pre harvest. If you farm over 10,000 acres, the government themselves, they audit every field every year for us.

[Todd Chrisley]

Right?

[Steve McBee]

So I knew they were there. We know they're there.

[Todd Chrisley]

That's their job.

[Steve McBee]

We're a target, right? Yeah, they, they do post planning audits to see your stand count. Then they do pre harvest and post harvest audits. They know the grain we raise, right? And this was just a planting date. Think, if you think about how minor that is. But it'd be like you buy an $800,000 house and you have 400,000 in contents in March, and then in, in June, you have lightning strikes your house, whatever, you have a fire, the insurance adjuster comes out, your house is burnt to the ground, you lost all your, you lost your house and all your contents. He writes you a check for 1.2, 800 for the structure, 400 for the contents, and then six years later they come back and say, hey, on your itemized list, you had a bicycle. And we see it on Facebook Marketplace. One of your kids put the bicycle up for sale. So your whole insurance claims null and boy, right? I mean, I don't even know how it's so minor of, of a, a mistake and a clerical issue that I didn't make, my son didn't make it. My son didn't do nothing but like spreadsheets in the office, you know, and for them to like say, your entire claim is null and void, it's Mind numbing. You know, I do a lot of real estate transactions as you do.

[Todd Chrisley]

Right.

[Steve McBee]

And I tell everybody. Okay, so just at the farm, I have over 400 employees. Just at the farm, we had 75. Okay. So if you go into a local bank BRANCH and there's 10 employees there, right? So you let me audit. So that would be seven banks have 10 employees. Let me audit three years of any bank on anybody that owns a business out there.

[Todd Chrisley]

Right?

[Steve McBee]

Anybody that owns a business, let me come audit three years across 75 employees. Every real estate transaction I do. Todd, there's a mistake. Oh, you sign the errors and omission form. Whatever. There's a wrong legal, wrong insurance.

[Todd Chrisley]

This wasn't dated or whatever.

[Steve McBee]

One of the dates are wrong.

[Todd Chrisley]

Right.

[Steve McBee]

It's not fraud.

[Todd Chrisley]

Right.

[Steve McBee]

There's no fraud. It's a. It's a human error. Clerical. So they're at. Here. They make this whole. Steve McBee may get 30 years in prison for a class B felony.

[Todd Chrisley]

Right.

[Steve McBee]

$7 million. Because that's all three years.

[Todd Chrisley]

Right.

[Steve McBee]

Of crop insurance across 40.

[Todd Chrisley]

They did the same thing with us. It was $36 million. Shock and all, right? Shock and all. That's exactly right. And because our name sells. Clicks, clickbait and so it was $36 million. Then it went down to 17 million. Then in the end, it went down to 4 million. And saying that's what people don't. That's not out in the press, that the prosecutor started this case against us with $36 million. Then, as they're about 70% through the case, it goes to 17 million. Then it goes from that to four and a half million. Well, it was never four and a half million. No one ever lost. There was no money lost. And so. And I remember at the try at the sentencing, that Anneliese Peterson, she said, your honor, we're not saying that Mr. Chrisley called. Caused the real estate crash of 2008. We know he did not do that. We know that he did not cause banks to collapse. We're not saying that. We're just saying that on this loan right here, there was a document submitted. Whether it was submitted by him or submitted by his CFO, it doesn't matter because Mr. Chrisley owned the company.

[Steve McBee]

Same.

[Todd Chrisley]

That's exactly what they said. And they said, if Mr. Chrisley did not know, he should have known. Now, that's important for everyone that's watching this show right now. You can go to prison because a prosecutor says, you should have known. You should have known. So what does that do in our country, when you hire someone that you place all your trust in, if I need to know all of this stuff, then should I be paying someone a million and a half dollars a year to do it? Hell, I should just keep that money in my pocket and do it myself.

[Steve McBee]

How would you ever employ anybody, though, exactly? I mean, we have to employ people. They want the economy to go.

[Todd Chrisley]

Exactly.

[Steve McBee]

And so here's what's even crazier. On a farm, we use a lot of seasonal help. H2A workers, right? They don't even know. I mean, they come over, they're legal, everything's done, right. All the paperwork, everything's processed. They come over here, they don't even know the names of fields they're calling. They're saying this or that. I mean, it's chaos trying to figure that out. Keep in mind, 2020 was Covid. We didn't even get our. I was hiring every laid off oil worker from Oklahoma just because we, I mean, we didn't get our H2A workers because of COVID I mean, it's so mind numbing the fact of what they can say that. Like, the judge said it to me too. He's like, well, you've had other successful businesses, Mr. McBee. You now you want to claim that you didn't know what you know, you don't know. I can't know what's happening across 400 employees.

[Todd Chrisley]

Right?

[Steve McBee]

I mean, that, that's absurd. Nobody that's ever owned a company. If you've had four employees. Employees are humans. Humans do as they choose.

[Todd Chrisley]

Well, one, if that judge knows what his clerk's doing when he leaves that, when that clerk leaves that courtroom.

[Steve McBee]

I was funny because the judge made a mistake on my paperwork. Is that, is that a federal.

[Todd Chrisley]

Should he go to prison?

[Steve McBee]

My point Exactly. He put 41 months, which I think is what he was going to give me until he heard. Heard my speech, you know, and you know, and then. So he messed him. They made a mistake and it was printing papers. I was getting 41 months because he had to go back and correct it.

[Todd Chrisley]

But now you ended up getting. Now keep in mind the press put out there. You were facing 30, 30 years and you ended up getting what, 24 months. 24 months, folks. Shock and all. Yeah, shock and all. 30 years goes to 24 months. So either you're a shitty prosecutor and you can't do your job, or you lied when you put it out there and said it was 30 years.

[Steve McBee]

Yes. Oh, it was 100%, you know. Yeah. He wanted they wanted, they, they had it all pre printed. I didn't walk out of the building. And the news articles were everywhere. Like, you know, and we, you know, it's funny because on that decision. So going back to when my attorney and I were sitting there, we had the 48 hours to make the decision, like, we're going to charge 27 federal indictments. We're going to, we're going to eat your grandkids or you plea out. Like we just want a plea to put your name in the paper. So we, I finally, we sat there for six hours going back and forth and I was like, do I tell all I have 30 different banking relationships I've had for 30 years, right? Do I go in there and tell the banks, I plead to one count of a fraudulent statement, which one of.

[Todd Chrisley]

Y' all gets to be there on the hook?

[Steve McBee]

Or do I say, hey, don't worry about the 27 federal indictments. It's going to take three or four years, but I'm going to beat all this, right? And then the other was getting off one of my, you know, one of our, our team people, our keen people that had signed the docusign, that had nothing to do with. All he did is put the information into a spreadsheet, right? Didn't run the tractors, didn't plant, didn't do nothing but take the information someone else gave him. See, that's how companies work. As you know, Todd, some employees do this job, some do that job, some team members, and then they did that information and someone's sitting at an office, enters it, they don't know. All they know is what they got told, right? Oh, we're gonna prosecute them. Which happens to be my son, right? So I'm like, you know, so I'm like, okay, get my son off of this, get, get all my other people off of it, get all the companies. Because at the end of the day, the bucks stop with me.

[Todd Chrisley]

That's right.

[Steve McBee]

And I take that accountability and responsibility. But I have, like I said, I have 59 LLCs across the board, right? So we ended up at the end of that six hour meeting agreeing that I would plea out to giving one count of a fraudulent statement, right? Not that we committed fraud because the.

[Todd Chrisley]

Paid a fraudulent statement, you gave a misleading statement.

[Steve McBee]

Because I own the company, right? Essentially is what it was. Or I managed the companies, I didn't even own them. They were in trust and whatever. But I definitely make the decisions, right? So I said, no one else is owning this but me. I ultimately make all that. That is. I do take that responsibility, you know, that's my team. So. But it's just so crazy. It was based on a clerical issue. And then. And then you get there and, you know, and I try to. I try to put myself in other people's shoes. The judge has a job to do, you know, so was he going to be fair with me? I knew going in he was an Obama appointed judge and that like everybody told me, I got so tired of.

[Todd Chrisley]

My judge was an Obama appointed judge and she couldn't even wear shoes into the courtroom. That's how ratchet she was. Wow.

[Steve McBee]

Yeah. Well, so they come in there and everyone's like, you should not know me. You should not be here. And I did have to hire separate attorneys for Stephen and I.

[Todd Chrisley]

Right.

[Steve McBee]

Because conflict they made. Yep. Conflict they made me. So they're. I'm spending hundreds of thousands of dollars like, you know, and it's like throwing.

[Todd Chrisley]

It out the window.

[Steve McBee]

Throwing it out the window. Some of them did nothing. You know, my attorney was phenomenal. But the rest of them were right. I thought a joke and, you know, I had to run the meetings and run which you should be active. I have. My biggest saying in life is be active in your own rescue.

[Todd Chrisley]

That's it.

[Steve McBee]

No one's coming to save you, so you better get up and. And get to work.

[Todd Chrisley]

Amen.

[Steve McBee]

But so we looked at all that and I was like, okay, nobody's responsible. This was a clerical issue and they're not letting up on it. I was so confident when we. When we turned in all the three ring binders of emails, information, they would be done. We offered them 23 witnesses on the grain and they didn't interview one. They wouldn't go interview them.

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[Todd Chrisley]

Know we sent you my former CEO who testified at my trial against me. He was interviewed by the FBI 27 times, 19 times he lied to the FBI and we were able to produce documents showing like depositions he had had when we were suing him where he had given a statement that contradicted what he was telling the FBI, statements he'd given to other individuals in writing and emails and whatever we were able to show he had lied. And he had lied to them so many times that they kept bringing him back and allowing him to clean it up. That's how bad they wanted us. Tommy Krepp allowed him to come in.

[Steve McBee]

And let the police knew his name. Who was he?

[Todd Chrisley]

That's it.

[Steve McBee]

He's not clickbait.

[Todd Chrisley]

That's it.

[Steve McBee]

I mean, I'm on the front of every. I can't open Instagram without my picture on it.

[Todd Chrisley]

You know, you just hope that it's a good picture. That's all you hope for. Yeah. I'll tell you, I mean, listen, at the end of the day, at least you're not being accused of sucking dicks. So, you know, you're. You're okay on that one?

[Steve McBee]

I'm good.

[Todd Chrisley]

You know, I mean, before I can get out of bed, I've had at least 10 or 12. But at the end of the day we because there are some good judges. Because I remember the magistrate judge in ours, Judge Anon, who was such an educated man, and he went through, and he's the judge for the federal judge, so he does all the legwork to get it ready to go to trial. And I remember him saying, something's not right. And he said, and I'm not going to allow this evidence, this information that you're trying to bring into court. No, it's all fruit of the poisonous tree. It's not coming in. He throws it out. Our attorneys call us and say, the judge just gutted the federal government's case. They're taking this information that they're trying to use against you. And he just tossed it. We go in front of the judge, the federal judge, and she said, yeah, well, I'm not going to go along with what he says. I'm going to let it come in. Had none, had that, had that right there not happened, it would have been done. But the information they allowed to come in was cut and paste documents that Mark Braddock had done.

[Advertisement Narrator]

Wow.

[Todd Chrisley]

That I should have known about. We were accused of tax evasion only at the end of the trial. We were never sentenced on taxes because there was no money owed. And to make it even worse, we were sitting in prison when a refund was sent to Savannah from the irs. For me and Julie, that's the country that we lived in. And you would think that with you being, you know, this happening under the Biden administration, that as a farmer, you would have been left alone because the floodgates were opened, all the illegal immigrants were coming in. They needed a job. So Biden wanted that to happen. So you could have been an employer for that.

[Steve McBee]

I mean, I, Well, I didn't hire illegals. I hired legal agencies.

[Todd Chrisley]

But he would have wanted you to do that.

[Steve McBee]

And the funny thing is, you know, know, like, with that, I mean, I, like I was saying earlier, I had everybody telling me, you should not be here. I mean, one of the attorneys, like, was. Was a prosecutor for 15 years, then was on the private side, 16. He's like, you should not know me. You should not be here.

[Todd Chrisley]

I said the same thing.

[Steve McBee]

Anybody on either side of the table, no one deserves a full pardon like you do. And he's like, you're the perfect hit for this administration. It had nothing to do. He's like, successful, Caucasian, conservative male. And I mean, I'm not. I'm not. And, you know, I, I, you know, Martha Stewart, I, I watch that. You know, I mean, I keep up with Local news.

[Todd Chrisley]

And I just love. Because we love Martha, you know, we know Martha. I love the fact that Comey is the one who did all this shit to her, and now his ass has been indicted.

[Steve McBee]

I love it. I love it, too. Because you gotta love it when the.

[Todd Chrisley]

Rabbit'S got the gun.

[Steve McBee]

Oh, 100%. And that's what I was saying, like, with Martha, she never, you know, you hear that and you're like, oh, wow, I wonder. I mean, yeah, they're definitely trophy prose, you know, trophy prosecution, going after her. But until your life, like, you don't realize, until you get.

[Todd Chrisley]

You're affected by.

[Steve McBee]

Yes, because you know, everyone, you know, and I hate to say it, because there. There's a lot of good people in our government.

[Todd Chrisley]

Yes.

[Steve McBee]

But there's a lot of bad people.

[Todd Chrisley]

Absolutely.

[Steve McBee]

And you think that. You know it. Like I said, you think it's black and white. And here's the thing that shocked me. I think to my core is like, what the Department of Justice are like. You know, I was like, not only do they. They don't care about the truth. They don't want the truth.

[Todd Chrisley]

They don't want the truth. They want to prosecute. That's right.

[Steve McBee]

They want to win. They want to win.

[Todd Chrisley]

That's all they want. And they don't care what families they destroy or how they go about it. And you. And I try to. I try to always say that, yes, I'm a registered Republican, but I am a fiscally conservative, socially liberal Republican. I don't care what you're doing in your bedroom. That's your business. I care about if what you're doing in your bedroom. You're trying to force it on me or you're trying to force it on my children. I care about if we're being wasteful with our. With our government funds. Those are the things that I care about. I don't want for anyone to be mistreated. I don't want for people to be harmed. I don't want children pulled out of their homes in the middle of the night because their mothers or their fathers have made a mistake and come into this country illegally, and now the child has to suffer. I don't want to see that, because my heart. My heart's not set up that way. But we are. If we're going to be a country of accountability. Accountability is not just for the American citizens. It's for every person that comes into this country that is going to live under the laws of this land. And so when I look at the judicial system and, you know, and the doj. I remember my attorneys flying from Atlanta to have a meeting at the doj. And I remember one of my attorneys calling me and say, and he said, this is a trophy hunt. He said, we just spent three hours with the doj. This is a trophy hunt. And the individual that we met with worked with one of your prosecutors when he was here, when Tommy Crait was here in D.C. so it was so incestuous from. From day one. And I remember, you know, because Tommy crap started getting caught up in his lies after the, you know, after the verdict. This is someone who wanted this conviction so bad that he was willing to do anything to get it. To get it. But yet when it came to sentencing, he never showed up for sentencing.

[Steve McBee]

Oh, you're kidding.

[Todd Chrisley]

He never showed up. The biggest case of his career, he never showed up. Wow. And that's because he knew that we had him about Betty Carter, the IRS agent that he had. That he had suborned perjury by her, that she had lied under oath, that there was no money owed. And we all were baffled until later on we started getting more information. And I'm so grateful for our FBI director today, Cash Patel. I'm so grateful for Pam Bondi, that's with the DOJ now, and Todd Blanche, and I'm so grateful that the president is seeing through a lot of this. And we received a letter, I guess it's been probably two months ago now, that said that our. Your case has now been referred back to the FBI for investigation regarding allegations of perjury in our case.

[Steve McBee]

Excellent. Against the People committee. Yeah.

[Todd Chrisley]

Right. So, you know, you come in here as prosecutors and you're going to ram the law down someone's throat. And you, by God, you did this. And you're going to get this and this and this. But no one's looking into their past.

[Steve McBee]

Well, they have immunity, right? Prosecutorial immunity. And that's what they exercise it like they're God.

[Todd Chrisley]

And that's what I'm going. And that's what I'm working on right now, along with my daughter and other people in D.C. i believe that all federal, all prosecutors that should be stripped from. Because if you go in that courtroom and you lie just to get a conviction, you committed first on you accountable, that's exactly for the truth.

[Steve McBee]

I mean, that's what we're supposed to be, the truth. Right?

[Todd Chrisley]

That's right.

[Steve McBee]

And that's what I was like saying. There's no money missing. All these people saying they just disallowed they basically said, your entire crop insurance claim, which was legitimate claim through three years of those whatever fields failed is null and void because we found a mistake.

[Todd Chrisley]

I remember me saying to one of my attorneys, I said, where is this $17 million going to go that we're supposed to pay? Who's getting it? Who is the victim? And he said, oh, he says they'll use that, he says, for training, he says, to buy equipment, he says, you know, other, you know, other police vehicles, you know, things like that. He said, it'll go towards that. I said, so this is a fleece of American wealth is what this is. This is robbing from the rich to give to the poor.

[Steve McBee]

They've literally cost me, Todd, $20 million.

[Todd Chrisley]

I mean, they cost us about 25.

[Steve McBee]

I had all my MetLife called, all my loans because I was a Felon. I had 17 million in MetLife loans. Three and a half percent. Three, six, three. Fixed for 20 or 25 years. I mean, I had. There is so much I go on. But I'll tell you, I don't want to forget it if. So, if you guys haven't read Cash Patel's book, Government Gangsters.

[Todd Chrisley]

Yes.

[Steve McBee]

Have you read that?

[Todd Chrisley]

I have.

[Steve McBee]

I mean, you talk because it gives you a true enlightenment on what's out there and what they. Because ever, you know, we think like we live in the United States of America, our government is the government. Like, they have to tell the truth.

[Todd Chrisley]

That's right. But they don't.

[Steve McBee]

They don't.

[Todd Chrisley]

They don't.

[Steve McBee]

They don't know.

[Todd Chrisley]

And here's the thing. You're going to sit and say, whether you're a Democrat or Republican, both sides are complaining that the DOJ was corrupt. The Democrats are saying DOJ is corrupt today because there's a Republican in the White House. The Republicans say the DOJ was corrupt when there was a Democrat in the House. So if we're all going to agree that the DOJ was corrupt, whether it was with Obama or Biden or the Bushes or Trump, we're all saying that the DOJ was corrupt.

[Steve McBee]

Right.

[Todd Chrisley]

How is it that if the doj, you acknowledge that they're corrupt, why is it so hard for you to believe that their prosecutors are liars?

[Steve McBee]

Well, I know what I've been through. I know what you've been through. And, you know, I. I just want to work every day, run my companies, spend time with the loan, my family, grandkids, and, you know, to think that I would. It's so surreal that I'm really here because I know no crime's been committed. There's no, there's no missing money.

[Todd Chrisley]

Right? Like, like, where's the victim? It's a victimless crime.

[Steve McBee]

It is. And then you see, oh, this guy got arrested a hundred times or had 21 felonies and never spent a day in jail. He's stabbing some elderly 69 year old at a gas pump. You know, that's one thing I have. You know, the judge at, you know, he was lecturing me, he's like, a felon is a felon. You wear that badge once you're a felon, you know, was just wouldn't let up. He's like, I hope you don't raise your kids. Well, let me tell you how I raise my kids exactly.

[Todd Chrisley]

You know, and my kids, more than.

[Steve McBee]

You make say, yes, ma'. Am. Yes, sir. They hold the door open at every convenience store. They're not stabbing people at the gas pump.

[Todd Chrisley]

Right.

[Steve McBee]

This man here, I stopped on the side of the road. Help every tire change. That's who I am. I know who I am.

[Todd Chrisley]

Right.

[Steve McBee]

So don't sit there and tell me I'm the same. Is those people, you know, or my kids like, I mean that just like.

[Todd Chrisley]

Well, listen, you know, it's always those people that want to cast that judgment that have got a lot worse skeletons in their closet.

[Steve McBee]

Oh, yeah.

[Todd Chrisley]

I will tell you that because you've got 24 months, right. You're getting ready to enter the federal prison. December 1st, December 1st. As bad as it is to have to go to prison, you're going into the Bureau of Prisons at probably the best time you could ever go into it, because you actually have great leadership now. You have a wonderful director, Billy Marshall. You have a wonderful, wonderful deputy director, Josh Smith, who is a former convicted felon. And then you have Rick Stover, who is the head of FSA right now and is doing an amazing job. So you should give thanks to President Trump for the First Step act, because that is going to reduce your sentence by roughly 48 to 50%. Wow. So, you know, you're not going to do the time that the tabloids want to say you're going to do. You know, you're going to go in. Yes. You're going to be away from your family for a minute.

[Advertisement Narrator]

It.

[Todd Chrisley]

But you're going to come out and you are. Do you know where you're going yet?

[Steve McBee]

Yankton, South Dakota.

[Todd Chrisley]

Yankton, South Dakota. So that's a smaller camp there. You're going to be fine. No one's going to be bothering you. And you're going to meet some great guys. You're going to meet some great guys. And let me tell you something.

[Steve McBee]

You.

[Todd Chrisley]

You grew up with no money. You. You made your money.

[Steve McBee]

Right.

[Todd Chrisley]

You're going to meet a lot of people, a lot of men that came from money that are being humbled. You're going to meet a lot of men that came from mine, in your background that had to fight to get where they are right. You will see that they're your fighters.

[Steve McBee]

Yeah.

[Todd Chrisley]

They're the ones that will not let the system break you.

[Steve McBee]

Well, I will never be a victim, and I say that to everybody. I'm. They're not going to make me a victim.

[Todd Chrisley]

No.

[Steve McBee]

And I. I don't know anyway, but to move forward and, you know, I raised four lions, not four sheep. That's it. My boys will be fine. They will continue the grind. I mean. I mean, I have all the banks that I still have. They're still doing business with us. I think that would speak volumes about. They understand if someone committed fraud, they wouldn't do business with us.

[Todd Chrisley]

Do you know that we had a banker that testified and they said, would you do business with Mr. Christa again? And he said, yes.

[Steve McBee]

Yeah, I love it.

[Todd Chrisley]

And so, you know, you know who your people are.

[Steve McBee]

You do.

[Todd Chrisley]

This is. You know, rather than look at this as a negative, look at this as God shedding light on your life in areas where there was dark darkness. Because this is going to vet out, Steve, people, that this is your culling season. It's going to cull out people that's in your life that shouldn't be there and make room and space for those that shouldn't be.

[Steve McBee]

That. That's already happened. That's already starting to progress into that. And it is a good feeling. And. And at the end of the day, God gives us challenges. I mean, we take the good every day from God. We have so much of it to be just living in this country, our children. I mean, I mean, we just. The blessings are just astronomical. That's right. So when we got to take the bad and the challenges, you look at Job and what he went through.

[Todd Chrisley]

That's right.

[Steve McBee]

I mean, that, you know, could we keep our faith? What this is.

[Todd Chrisley]

This is nothing compared to what he went through with.

[Steve McBee]

Yeah. And the advice you've given me, and you've been, you know, making new friends like that in life, that'll be friends for the rest of my life. It's been a big deal.

[Todd Chrisley]

Well, you know, I was able to, you know, your son was on Stephen was on Savannah's podcast online, and I was able to meet them for lunch while he was here. And such a wonderful young man. Such a wonderful young man. Very polite, very courteous, very cordial, and a young man that loves his daddy and has respect for him.

[Steve McBee]

Well, thank you.

[Todd Chrisley]

And so you've raised him right, but you've raised your other sons right. And I saw the hurt in him sitting at that table.

[Steve McBee]

Yeah.

[Todd Chrisley]

And I remember looking at him and saying, your daddy's going to be fine. He's going to be fine, and you're going to be fine. I said, because God could have stopped this if he had wanted to.

[Steve McBee]

That's right.

[Todd Chrisley]

But God felt for your situation and for mine that there was lessons to be learned, there were people that we needed to touch. So I would encourage you, Steve, when you go in, to touch as many lives as you can, to be as much of a light for those who don't have a light to make sure that you help people build themselves up every day. And, you know, since I have come home May 28, I have brought home 68 men either into home confinement or to halfway house through the assistance of President Trump's First Step act and Rick Stover. Implementing it the way that it needed should have been implemented under the Biden administration. And this is not a blue and red topic, folks. It's not. It's about whether the administration did what they were supposed to do. President Trump passed the First Step act to help incarcerated individuals. Biden did not want to give Trump credit for that to. Or to let it show that it was working. So, so he didn't. They didn't push it. They did nothing with it. And therefore, it resulted in so many families continuing to be torn apart, separated, when they could have been at home, being reunited. And right now, just since President Trump has taken office, the numbers of men and women that should have already been gone home under the First Step act has right now the halfway houses. Our numbers have gone up to about, about another 20, 200, 20, 800 men and women that are going into those halfway houses. Now, keep in mind, under President Trump, the money was placed there for the Bureau of Prisons to expand their halfway house program to acquire more beds so that people could get out of prison and get back into society. The direct deputy director, Josh Smith, just released yesterday, hundreds of millions, billions of dollars is missing and was never used to fund those halfway houses that was allocated, that was allocated for that. Now, where are those people today that misallocated those funds, those federal workers? Why Are they not going in front of a federal judge being charged for stealing or misappropriating federal funds? If the law should be one for all.

[Advertisement Narrator]

Yeah.

[Steve McBee]

Blind justice. Every courthouse has lady justice out front. That's right. We need to get back. I mean the truth is easy. That's. It's always on the tip of your tongue. You know the truth. I could tell my story to anybody I know because it's the truth. You know it, you know what the details are. You know, and it's just, you get in there and it's just like. So you don't even get that. I don't even think we had one of the, the, well, the prosecutor they were like, well they planted the outsides of the fields first. They're like that's called the headlands. Every farmer in America does that. What like we were trying to.

[Todd Chrisley]

And this prosecutor that's saying this probably doesn't know corn from cake, doesn't know anything about agriculture.

[Steve McBee]

How can you prosecute? Like that's what I'm saying. It's absolutely based on that Steve McBee or Steven McBee that was on Joe Millionaire. And we're gonna get our clickbait all over.

[Todd Chrisley]

That's right.

[Steve McBee]

I mean that if every farmer knew out there, hey, you know, and then I could go on. I won't gramble on about the details of the case, but the fact of the matter that they don't understand agriculture by the statements they were making about you're selling weight a bushel a grain. If you're one bushel off on 2 million bushel. It's mind numbing to me. If I could do anything when I get out, it's find a conduit or pathway forward that I could help help the like the, the agriculture world understand because they what the crop insurance program is a mousetrap.

[Todd Chrisley]

That's right.

[Steve McBee]

They're putting the cheese. They're starving farmers out and then. But with us we understood that. That that's what's so amazing I, that they, that they like we, they found anything wrong. We knew we were hope we wear a bullseye right here like you.

[Todd Chrisley]

Right.

[Steve McBee]

That you do. I mean once you've been out there and on Exposed coast, they. Everybody wants to clickbait.

[Todd Chrisley]

That's right.

[Steve McBee]

But the, the farmers that are really, they need that and they're struggling. They almost set them up on how that is done. I would love to be involved in re engineering that program process that works.

[Todd Chrisley]

Right.

[Steve McBee]

Because they keep getting people that don't know truly from the farmer's world and, and based what they are, what. What's happening and how it's happening.

[Todd Chrisley]

And here's the problem with placing men like yourself, myself, and many other men for these white collar crimes. For the most part, these men are highly intelligent. You're going to see that they didn't get where they are today by being stupid. And for the most part, these men and women that are being sent to prison for this kind of stuff are more intelligent than the people that are prosecuted. And you got to be careful with that, because what you do is you create an army of people that have been mistreated, that have received a raw end of the deal when there was no justice in their deal. And then they come out and then they, in their mind are like, I want to evoke change. I want to prevent this from happening to someone else. And that's what I've done with the Bureau of Prisons.

[Steve McBee]

I've been watching your podcast. You're doing an excellent job. I. The change you're doing is real.

[Todd Chrisley]

And then it's. It's crazy, but it's. But, you know, I. I don't get. I take no credit for that because I know that God, I give all, all the glory to God because I know that God chose me. And, and that's where I get my blessing from. That God chose me to go into the belly of the beast. He placed me in a position to where I would not be comfortable. Because when you're uncomfortable, that is your greatest growth period.

[Steve McBee]

Period, 100%.

[Todd Chrisley]

And I grew a lot. And I have made friends with men that our lives would have never crossed, our paths would have never crossed. And, you know, former drug dealers, heads of cartel, you know, Fortune 500, presidents of Fortune 500 companies, CEOs. My friend group is so diverse now, and I feel my life is so much richer for. For it. And you're. I hope you will come out and feel that exact same way. But what I would say to you is, is that you're a strong man. I've had a lot of conversations with you folks. Never one time have I seen this man break down. You have held it together. And I know that there, that there is those moments that you struggle. And if you tell me that there's not, you're bullshitting. There are those moments when you're by yourself and you think about, is this the last day that I'm gonna get to be with Stephen, right? Or is this the last time I'm gonna have lunch with Cole? You know that that has to eat at you. And what has been, what toll has it taken on the boys emotionally with all of this?

[Steve McBee]

Oh, I think, you know, we try to hide that a lot. I say that I have another, I have a lot of sayings. Some of my coins, some of them I didn't. But, but one of them was Ike, and he said, you know, in front of the troops, you always be optimistic. You save all your pessimistic thoughts for your pillow.

[Todd Chrisley]

That's right.

[Steve McBee]

I live like that, right? I. When I talk to my boys or talk to any of my managers or team, which we are, we're fine. You're going to be fine. We're going to get through this, you know, so they, I can tell, you know, it's becoming a reality. I mean, I'm, you know, I mean, today, you know, Thursday, so I'm like, like nine days from, you know, or 10 days from being there, you know, and it's coming quickly. And I, you know, but I, I, I just, I think it's hardest. I have two granddaughters. That's the hardest for me, that I can't think about them at all. Right. That, that hurts.

[Todd Chrisley]

I get it. I get it. You're going to be home sooner than you think. And I'm here to help you any way that I can and will help you and will help your boys any way that I can. When it comes to the Bureau of Prisons, all I, what I can offer you is the advice that I've given you. I can tell you that you're dealing with an administration now. You're going to have some, you're going to have some ass clowns that are, that are staff members. You're gonna have for the most part, before I even get there. I mean, I've had zero good things to say about case managers because they have been allowed to sit it on, put it on cruise control, you know, for, you know, from Obama to Biden, and nothing, nothing was done. So they've done. They don't even show up for the job half the time. But the good news is, is that you're coming in under administration now that is said, no more. These men and women are here because they're being punished. Their punishment is being here, away from their families. It is not your job to punish them.

[Steve McBee]

Right?

[Todd Chrisley]

The punishment is them being separated from those they love. So I can tell you that under Billy Marshall, under Josh Smith, if you ever have a problem, you add me to your call list. When you get there, you call me and I will, I will shout it from the rooftops. And it will be taken care of because I'm not going to have anyone mistreated or abused on my watch. So I give you my word, not just as your friend, but as a fellow comrade who has gone through the trenches. So, you know, I have been pardoned. My fellow. You know, President Trump gave us a pardon that I think there's only been a little over 250 kinds of this specific pardon that we have that washed away everything. But I will always in my heart be a felon and an inmate because all of my friends that I went through the war with do not have the blessing that I have with President Trump.

[Steve McBee]

Understood.

[Todd Chrisley]

So your judge said you'll always be a felon and you'll always be an asshole.

[Steve McBee]

Yeah. Always wear that badge.

[Todd Chrisley]

So wear your badge proudly. Wear your badge as if you went to war, because that's what you're getting ready to do when I say you're going to war. Not physically, but mentally and emotionally, you're going to war.

[Steve McBee]

Right.

[Todd Chrisley]

You're leaving your home where you have all your luxury, creature comforts. You're leaving those that you love. You are leaving relationships behind that you have right now and you hope they survive until you get back. A lot of people's don't. You're not gone long enough for that to matter. But just know that you're going to be there with people that have fought a much harder battle than what you will, will ever fight.

[Steve McBee]

I count my blessings because I'm always, the glass is always half full with me. I'm, I, I, and I believe that. And whatever God chose for me to, to do this, I will do it. I will, I take the good and bad from God.

[Todd Chrisley]

Right.

[Steve McBee]

He gives both growth and the challenges to make us stronger. This is, this is just, you know, iron sharpens iron and I'm just getting sharpened right now. That's right. And so I'm going to look at it that way. I mean, it's going to be a, it's going to be different. I mean, obviously it's, I mean, I wouldn't have chose this. I wouldn't, I mean, no one would know. But here it is. I will deal with it. I will be stronger for it.

[Todd Chrisley]

That's right.

[Steve McBee]

I will come out and, and, and hopefully, you know, make everybody stronger around me. Because I, I always like everybody around me to do. I mean, I don't want to be the only one doing good.

[Todd Chrisley]

That's right.

[Steve McBee]

I want everyone to do good and to, you know, be in good spirits, have the good life. And I try to make everybody's life around me better.

[Todd Chrisley]

Well, you've made our life better because we're blessed. We are better for knowing you and for knowing your son, Stephen. He's the only one that I've met. But we're certainly better for knowing you to. And we're certainly better for recognizing the character that you carry every day. And we, the Chrisleys, love the McBees. And I am grateful and blessed to have had you here today. I know this. This next week is going to be heavy. I've been there. But I'm going to lift you up in prayer just as I do your family every day. I'm going to cover you guys in prayer every day. And it. You'll have me on your call list.

[Steve McBee]

Absolutely.

[Todd Chrisley]

You and I will talk every week. I'll email you and they'll read your emails because once you say that you're. That you put Todd Chris's name on there, those staff members are going to be watching it because they want to make sure you're not telling me that they're not doing their job.

[Steve McBee]

I can use you as a heavy hunt.

[Todd Chrisley]

I don't like the name. Listen, if it gets you. If it gets your commissary, use my name.

[Steve McBee]

Name drop A.

[Todd Chrisley]

But, you know, it's. I don't. It's just that they're set up that way. You know, the entire BoP now knows that I'm coming to correct the injustices that are occurring. And through Josh Smith, who is out in these prisons every day, he's seeing the things that I'm reporting, he's verifying them and he's cleaning them up. So I'm just saying to you, you and I, you're going in as my friend. You're coming out as my friend. And as your friend, it is my job to make sure that you're okay. So even though you're there and I'm here, I will still be making sure that you're okay.

[Steve McBee]

Now, I appreciate that more than words can express.

[Todd Chrisley]

All right, buddy.

[Steve McBee]

Thank you so much.

[Todd Chrisley]

God bless you.

[Steve McBee]

Yeah, God bless you. This November action is free on Pluto tv Go on the run with Jack Reacher Every suspect was a train killer Then buckle up for drive World War.

[Todd Chrisley]

Zone Every human being we save Just one less fight and Charlie's Angels Damn, I hate to fly. Launch into sci fi adventure with the.

[Steve McBee]

Fifth Element and laugh through the mayhem in Tropic thunder. What is going on here? All the thrills, all for free Pluto TV stream now pay never.