President Donald Trump issued pardons to 77 individuals on Sunday evening, including former personal lawyer Rudy Giuliani and key members of his 2020 campaign legal team. The pardons cover their involvement in efforts to overturn the 2020 presidential election results through a scheme involving false slates of electors in states won by Joe Biden.
Among those pardoned are Mark Meadows, Trump's former White House Chief of Staff, along with attorneys Kenneth Chesebro, Sydney Powell, John Eastman, Christina Bobb, and Boris Epshteyn. All played roles in the "fake elector" plot, where individuals falsely signed documents claiming Trump won states including Georgia, Arizona, Michigan, Nevada, and Wisconsin. The scheme aimed to have then-Vice President Mike Pence certify these fraudulent electoral votes instead of Biden's legitimate wins.
The announcement came late Sunday at 10:54 p.m. local time via tweet from Ed Martin, Trump's pardon attorney. The timing appeared strategic, as the Senate was nearing a vote on ending a 40-day government shutdown. Notably, the pardon proclamation explicitly states that Trump himself was not pardoned in relation to the scheme.
Giuliani's Fall From Grace
Rudy Giuliani, once celebrated as "America's Mayor" for his leadership after 9/11, faced disbarment in Washington D.C. and New York in 2021. A New York appellate court found "uncontroverted" evidence that he made "demonstrably false and misleading statements to courts, lawmakers and the public" while promoting conspiracy theories about voting machines and widespread fraud.
Martin stated in the announcement: «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 pardons come as Trump has granted clemency to nearly 1,600 individuals convicted or awaiting trial for offenses related to the January 6, 2021, Capitol attack, where over 600 rioters were convicted of assaulting or obstructing law enforcement.
Note: This article was created with Artificial Intelligence (AI).
