Donald Trump has pardoned his former personal lawyer Rudy Giuliani, ex-White House chief of staff Mark Meadows, and 75 others for their roles in attempting to overturn the 2020 election. The clemency was announced late on Sunday by US pardon attorney Ed Martin, a staunch conservative ally of the president, who wrote on X: 'Let their healing begin.'
The pardons are largely symbolic, as they apply only in the federal justice system. Giuliani, Meadows, and others still face legal exposure at state level, including in Georgia, where an election interference case against 19 defendants, including Trump, has stalled due to the disqualification of the Fulton County prosecutor Fani Willis.
Among those pardoned are former Trump lawyers Sidney Powell, Jenna Ellis, and John Eastman. Ellis and Powell previously took plea deals in the Georgia case. Ellis admitted a felony count of aiding and abetting false statements, while Powell's misdemeanor convictions were ruled neither serious nor intentional by a Texas panel, sparing her disbarment.
Giuliani, who was banned from practising law in New York and Washington DC, has been ordered to pay nearly $150m to two Georgia election workers he defamed. He also faces defamation trials from voting machine manufacturers Dominion and Smartmatic. His spokesperson said Giuliani never sought a pardon but is 'deeply grateful' for Trump's decision.
The pardons extend Trump's efforts to rewrite the aftermath of the 2020 election. In January, he issued full pardons for more than 1,500 people involved in the 6 January 2021 attack on Congress. Many of those listed in Martin's document were involved in legal cases in states Biden won, including Arizona, Michigan, Wisconsin, and Nevada.
