U.S. President Donald Trump has pardoned former New York mayor Rudy Giuliani, attorney Sidney Powell, and dozens of other allies accused of trying to overturn his 2020 election defeat, a Justice Department official said on Monday.
The sweeping clemency order, issued last Friday, covers 77 individuals and is described by the White House as a step toward “national reconciliation.”
The move, however, is largely symbolic, it applies only to federal offenses and does not extend to any state-level charges still pending in several states, including Arizona, Georgia, Wisconsin, and Nevada.
In a proclamation posted on X by Ed Martin, who oversees the Justice Department’s “weaponization group,” Trump said the pardons were intended to “end a grave national injustice” and “continue the process of national healing.”
The Justice Department had investigated a plan by Trump and his allies to submit alternative slates of electors in key battleground states to challenge President Joe Biden’s 2020 victory.
That case was dropped last year after prosecutors cited a long-standing policy against indicting a sitting president. Trump went on to win reelection in 2024, defeating Vice President Kamala Harris.
Those pardoned include several prominent figures involved in Trump’s post-election efforts: former White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows, former Justice Department official Jeffrey Clark, attorneys John Eastman, Christina Bobb, Kenneth Chesebro, and adviser Boris Epshteyn, among others.
The document specifies that Trump himself is not included in the pardons.
White House spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt defended the decision, saying, “Challenging an election is the cornerstone of democracy. These pardons recognize that Americans must never be punished for questioning their government.”
While some state-level prosecutions related to the fake electors scheme continue, others have been dismissed, including a high-profile case in Michigan earlier this year.
The latest wave of pardons follows a series of unannounced clemency actions by Trump in recent months, signaling a broader effort by the president to close the chapter on the contentious legal battles stemming from his 2020 loss.
Source: Reuters
Written By Rodney Mbua
