Topline
President Donald Trump issued pardons for several key allies accused of being involved in a plot to send a false slate of electors from key swing states in a bid to overturn the result of the 2020 presidential elections, Pardon Attorney Ed Martin announced on X late on Sunday night.
Rudy Giuliani and Sidney Powell were among 77 people pardoned by Trump
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Key Facts
According to Martin’s post, the key pardon recipients include former members of the president’s legal team —Rudy Giuliani, John Eastman, and Sidney Powell—and former White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows.
Trump’s former advisor Boris Epshteyn, legal team member Jenna Ellis and pro-Trump lawyer Kenneth Chesebro—the purported architect of the strategy to send fake electors from seven swing states that Trump had lost to former President Joe Biden in 2020—were also among the list of 77 people pardoned by the president.
The proclamation announcing the pardon said it covers all conduct relating to “the advice, creation, organization, execution, submission, support, voting, activities, participation in, or advocacy for or of any slate or proposed slate of Presidential electors…in connection with the 2020 Presidential Election.”
The pardon also covers activity related to “their efforts to expose voting fraud and vulnerabilities in the 2020 Presidential Election,” reiterating Trump’s unsubstantiated claims about widespread fraud in the election won by Biden.
The proclamation, titled “Granting pardons for certain offenses related to the 2020 Presidential Election,” also explicitly notes that the pardon does not apply to Trump himself.
Crucial Quote
“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 pardon says.