Trump issues pardons for Giuliani, other key figures tied to efforts to overturn 2020 election results

President Donald Trump has issued broad pardons to several key allies, including Rudy Giuliani and Mark Meadows, as well as dozens of others accused of attempting to overturn the 2020 presidential election results.

The pardons were first reported by Politico’s Kyle Cheney, who cited a social media post from Ed Martin, the Justice Department’s pardon attorney.  The pardons, described as “full, complete, and unconditional,” was later confirmed by the White House.  The sweeping move follows earlier mass pardons of those convicted in connection with the January 6, 2021, Capitol riot.

More than 70 individuals — among them former Trump advisers, attorneys, and self-described alternate electors who falsely claimed to represent Trump in states won by Joe Biden – were listed in the proclamation, which declares that the pardons “end a grave national injustice perpetrated upon the American people following the 2020 Presidential Election and continue the process of national reconciliation.” It explicitly states, however, that the pardon does not apply to Trump himself, sidestepping questions over whether a president can pardon his own actions.

Among those granted clemency are Giuliani, Trump’s former personal attorney; Meadows, his onetime White House chief of staff; Sidney Powell, John Eastman, and Jeffrey Clark — figures central to efforts to challenge Biden’s victory. Also included are Republicans who signed documents falsely asserting they were legitimate presidential electors in battleground states such as Georgia, Michigan, Arizona, Nevada, and Wisconsin.

Giuliani, a former New York City mayor and one of Trump’s most outspoken defenders, was a central figure in promoting false claims of election fraud. He has since been disbarred in both New York and Washington, D.C., and lost a $148 million defamation suit filed by two Georgia election workers targeted by his conspiracy theories. A spokesperson for Giuliani, Ted Goodman, said, “Mayor Giuliani never sought a pardon but is deeply grateful for President Trump’s decision,” adding that Giuliani “stands by his work following the 2020 presidential election.”

Eastman, a former law professor and legal adviser to Trump, authored a memo outlining a plan for then–Vice President Mike Pence to reject certified electoral votes during the congressional session on January 6. Powell, Jenna Ellis, and attorney Kenneth Chesebro — all of whom helped craft or promote strategies to contest the election — were also among those pardoned. Powell, Ellis, and Chesebro previously pleaded guilty in Georgia’s state case over efforts to overturn the election.  In addition, former Justice Department official Jeffrey Clark, another recipient, was accused of pushing to send false letters to states claiming the department had found evidence of election irregularities.

In a statement Monday, White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said, “These great Americans were persecuted and put through hell by the Biden Administration for challenging an election, which is the cornerstone of democracy.”

Trump himself had faced federal charges over his alleged role in a scheme to block the peaceful transfer of power after his 2020 loss. That indictment, led by Special Counsel Jack Smith, accused him of spreading “lies that there had been outcome-determinative fraud in the election and that he had actually won.” The case was dropped in November following Trump’s return to the White House, in line with Justice Department policy against prosecuting a sitting president.

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