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Trump grants pardons to Giuliani, Meadows, others linked to 2020 election efforts
FILE - Former NYC mayor Rudy Giuliani participates in a ceremony commemorating the anniversary of the 9-11 terror attacks in New York, Thursday, Sept. 11, 2025.
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Seth Wenig
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AP
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President Trump has pardoned a long list of political allies accused of trying to overturn the 2020 presidential election, according to Justice Department Pardon Attorney Ed Martin.
The people listed were charged with or accused of various crimes or conduct related to attempts to subvert the 2020 election, which Trump falsely claimed to have won. Some faced state prosecutions, while others were never charged.
A proclamation published on Martin's personal X account late Sunday listed 77 people who received "full, complete, and unconditional" pardons, including Rudy Giuliani, former White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows, and Sidney Powell, a former Trump attorney who spread conspiracy theories about ballot fraud after Trump lost the 2020 election.
Powell is one of four pardon recipients who previously pleaded guilty in a Georgia court after being indicted for trying to subvert the 2020 election results in Georgia.
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The pardons are largely symbolic as none of the names listed were ever charged with federal crimes. Dozens of people listed were charged in multiple swing states that were the center of unfounded claims of election fraud, including Georgia, Nevada, Arizona and Wisconsin. Presidents do not hold the power to pardon state crimes.
The proclamation appeared to have been signed on Friday. It also made clear that Trump was not among those being pardoned. Trump has previously said he had the "absolute right" to pardon himself – a claim that remains untested. The Supreme Court granted the president broad immunity for official acts committed during his presidency.
In a statement to NPR, White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said: "These great Americans were persecuted and put through hell by the Biden Administration for challenging an election, which is the cornerstone of democracy," adding: "President Trump is putting an end to the Biden Regime's communist tactics once and for all."
In January, Trump pardoned some 1,500 Jan. 6 rioters who participated in the siege on the U.S. Capitol four years ago. Among those pardoned were Enrique Tarrio, the former Proud Boys chairman, who was convicted of "seditious conspiracy" and sentenced to 22 years in the federal penitentiary.
This latest string of pardons, while symbolic, appears to be part of Trump's longstanding efforts to rewrite history and amplify his false claims that the 2020 election, which was won by Joe Biden, was stolen. Pressed about those false claims in a 2022 interview with NPR's Steve Inskeep, Trump repeatedly attempted to cast more misinformation about his election loss, before abruptly ending the call.
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