Trump pardons Giuliani, others involved in effort to overturn 2020 election
Trump pardons Giuliani, others involved in effort to overturn 2020 election
The individuals on the pardon list were involved in a scheme to alter slates of electors in battleground states.
United States President Donald Trump has granted sweeping pardons to his political allies accused of attempting to subvert the 2020 election.
The Trump administration’s pardon attorney, Ed Martin, revealed the development on Sunday.
Mr Martin shared a list on X of more than 70 people, including the president’s former lawyers Rudy Giuliani and Sidney Powell and Mr Trump’s former chief of staff Mark Meadows, who were granted “full, complete, and unconditional” pardons.
The names also include John Eastman, a lawyer who proposed strategies to prevent the certification of the election results, and longtime Trump advisor Boris Epshteyn.
The individuals on the pardon list were involved in a scheme to alter slates of electors in battleground states, including Arizona, Georgia, and Michigan, which former President Joe Biden had secured in his successful 2020 presidential run.
That plot, supported by Mr Trump and his allies, helped fuel a demonstration that turned into a rioting mob attacking the US Capitol on January 6, 2021.
None of those named in the four-page pardons missive were charged on the federal level, but the directive could prevent future federal administrations from prosecuting the alleged co-conspirators.
Mr Trump has long insisted he has the power to pardon himself for federal crimes, but he has yet to put the theory to the test.
In the missive granting pardons for actions “in connection with the 2020 presidential election” or relating to “efforts to expose voting fraud,” Mr Trump said, “This pardon does not apply to the president of the United States.”
However, the preemptive pardons of former Trump aides, which would only apply in federal court, are largely symbolic and cannot shield them from ongoing state-level prosecutions.
