Donald Trump has kicked off another sweeping round of pardons, wiping the slate clean for Rudy Giuliani and dozens of his closest allies who were accused of trying to overturn the 2020 election. The announcement dropped Sunday night when Ed Martin, the Department of Justice’s pardon attorney, posted the signed proclamation on X. In the document, Trump declares the order as a move meant to “end a grave national injustice” tied to the fallout of the 2020 race and to push what he calls “national reconciliation.”
Giuliani is one of 77 people included in this mass pardon, alongside former White House chief of staff Mark Meadows and attorneys Sidney Powell and John Eastman. The order states that each person is receiving a “full, complete, and unconditional pardon,” which also extends to Trump’s co-defendants in Georgia who were charged over alleged attempts to overturn the state’s election results.
This wave of pardons follows closely behind Trump’s recent clemency for former New York Mets star Darryl Strawberry, tied to his 1995 tax evasion conviction.
A second version of the proclamation, also posted by Martin, lays out the language even more broadly. It pardons “all United States citizens” for conduct connected to the creation, advocacy, or execution of alternate slates of presidential electors, as well as any actions tied to efforts to expose alleged fraud in the 2020 election. The proclamation states it was signed November 7 and does not apply to Trump himself.
None of the high-profile figures listed had been convicted of federal crimes, meaning the pardons carry more symbolic than legal weight. Still, the move aligns with Trump’s effort since returning to office to rewrite the narrative surrounding the 2020 election and the events that culminated in the storming of the Capitol on January 6.
Giuliani, for his part, is still dealing with his own legal issues. He was held in contempt of court earlier this year for refusing to provide financial records to two Georgia election workers he defamed. Trump has previously said he intends to award Giuliani the Presidential Medal of Freedom.
Trump’s aggressive use of pardons is not new. In January, he granted around 1,500 pardons and commuted the sentences of 14 supporters connected to the January 6 attack, including members of the Proud Boys and Oath Keepers convicted of seditious conspiracy. Those actions were sharply criticized by Democrats at the time, with former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi calling them “an outrageous insult to our justice system.”
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