Trump pardons Rudy Giuliani and 76 allies accused of 2020 election interference
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The news: US President Donald Trump has pardoned 77 individuals for their support or involvement in alleged plans to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election.
The context: The US Department of Justice’s Pardon Attorney, Ed Martin, made the announcement via X late on Sunday night US time (8pm AEDT).
The undated statement shared by Martin says that “full, complete and unconditional” pardons have been granted for the former New York mayor Rudy Giuliani, who had helped to pressure state legislatures to reject Joe Biden’s victories in key swing states, Trump’s former chief of staff in 2020, Mark Meadows and lawyers John Eastman and Kenneth Chesebro who helped design a strategy to pressure then-Vice President Mike Pence to overturn the election on 6 January 2021.
“This proclamation ends a grave national injustice perpetrated upon the American people following the 2020 Presidential Election and continues the process of national reconciliation”, the statement said.
"I, DONALD J. TRUMP, do hereby grant a full, complete, and unconditional pardon to all United States citizens for conduct relating to the advice, creation, organization, execution, submission, support, voting, activities in, or advocacy for or of any slate of presidential electors ... in connection with the 2020 Presidential Election," the proclamation added.
Other individuals who were pardoned include those involved in investigations into alleged “fake electors” plots 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.
Presidential pardons only apply to federal charges, not state or local charges and the pardon explicitly states that it does not apply to the President. Politico reports that the pardons are largely symbolic as none of the individuals were charged with federal crimes.
The sources: Ed Martin X, Politico
