Trump pardons Giuliani and others involved in efforts to overturn 2020 election

President Donald Trump has pardoned his former personal lawyer Rudy Giuliani, his former chief of staff Mark Meadows and others accused of backing the Republican’s efforts to overturn the 2020 election, a Justice Department official says.

Ed Martin, the government’s pardon attorney, posted on social media a signed proclamation of the “full, complete, and unconditional” pardon of 77 people, which includes conservative attorneys Sidney Powell, John Eastman and Trump ally Kenneth Chesebro.

The proclamation, posted online late Sunday, explicitly says the pardon does not apply to Trump himself.

Presidential pardons apply only to federal crimes. None of the Trump allies named were charged in a federal case and presidents have no power to pardon state crimes. But the move underscores Trump’s efforts to continue to rewrite the history of the 2020 election he lost to Democrat Joe Biden.

The White House didn’t immediately respond to an email seeking comment Monday.

Also pardoned were Republicans who acted as fake electors for Trump in 2020 and were charged in state cases of submitting false certificates that confirmed they were legitimate electors despite Biden’s victory in those states.

The proclamation described efforts to prosecute those who were involved in the 2020 election schemes “as a grave national injustice perpetrated on the American people” and said the pardons were designed to continue “the process of national reconciliation.”

This story uses functionality that may not work in our app. Click here to open the story in your web browser.

Want more insights? Join Working Title - our career elevating newsletter and get the future of work delivered weekly.

Trump pardons Giuliani and others involved in efforts to overturn 2020 election

President Donald Trump has pardoned his former personal lawyer Rudy Giuliani, his former chief of staff Mark Meadows and others accused of backing the Republican’s efforts to overturn the 2020 election, a Justice Department official says.

Ed Martin, the government’s pardon attorney, posted on social media a signed proclamation of the “full, complete, and unconditional” pardon of 77 people, which includes conservative attorneys Sidney Powell, John Eastman and Trump ally Kenneth Chesebro.

The proclamation, posted online late Sunday, explicitly says the pardon does not apply to Trump himself.

Presidential pardons apply only to federal crimes. None of the Trump allies named were charged in a federal case and presidents have no power to pardon state crimes. But the move underscores Trump’s efforts to continue to rewrite the history of the 2020 election he lost to Democrat Joe Biden.

The White House didn’t immediately respond to an email seeking comment Monday.

Also pardoned were Republicans who acted as fake electors for Trump in 2020 and were charged in state cases of submitting false certificates that confirmed they were legitimate electors despite Biden’s victory in those states.

The proclamation described efforts to prosecute those who were involved in the 2020 election schemes “as a grave national injustice perpetrated on the American people” and said the pardons were designed to continue “the process of national reconciliation.”

This story uses functionality that may not work in our app. Click here to open the story in your web browser.

Want more insights? Join Working Title - our career elevating newsletter and get the future of work delivered weekly.