Donald Trump pardons ex-lawyer and others involved in 2020 election efforts
Washington: US President Donald Trump preemptively pardoned his former lawyer Rudy Giuliani, his former chief of staff Mark Meadows and several conservative activists accused of supporting efforts to overturn the 2020 election results.
Ed Martin, the Trump administration’s pardon lawyer, published a signed statement on social media about the “full, complete and unconditional” pardon, which included conservative lawyers Sidney Powell and John Eastman. The statement made clear that the pardon did not apply to Trump.
Rudy Giuliani was among those who received a “full, complete and unconditional” pardon.Credit: access point
The order “ends the serious national injustice inflicted on the American people in the wake of the 2020 election and continues the natural process of reconciliation,” the document said.
“Let their healing begin,” Martin shared on X.
The pardons are largely symbolic because they apply only to federal crimes and no people have been charged in the federal cases. But the pardons would protect those named against future federal charges and would not bar prosecutions under state law.
Guiliani and Meadows are among those still facing election-related criminal charges at the state level. They deny wrongdoing.
The full list of those pardoned included dozens of people accused of being part of a “fake voters” scheme following the 2020 election, which Trump lost to Democrat Joe Biden.
The plan involved Trump’s allies trying to persuade Republican-controlled legislatures in key states won by Biden to replace their delegates in the electoral college, which will formally decide the presidency, with Trump-friendly electors.
Trump’s latest move underscores his efforts to continue rewriting the history of the 2020 election. His first act as president was to grant clemency to nearly 1,600 people accused or convicted of the January 6 riots at the U.S. Capitol in Washington, where his supporters attacked Congress in his name.
