President Donald Trump has issued pardons to dozens of individuals implicated in efforts to overturn the 2020 presidential election, including those designated as alternative or “false” electors, according to Ed Martin, a Justice Department attorney specializing in pardons. Martin shared what appears to be the official pardon document on social media.
The pardons also cover Rudy Giuliani, Trump’s former personal lawyer and close adviser, and Mark Meadows, his chief of staff from March 2020 to January 2021.
Electors are members of the 538-member Electoral College responsible for formally electing the U.S. president. In most states, electors vote according to the popular vote, while Maine and Nebraska allocate votes based on congressional district and statewide results.
The pardon document, dated November 7, begins by asserting it “ends a grave national injustice perpetrated upon the American people following the 2020 Presidential Election and continues the process of national reconciliation.” It explicitly states that the pardons do not apply to Trump, sidestepping questions about whether a president can pardon himself.
The appointment of alternative electors was central to a federal indictment against Trump, which the Justice Department dropped earlier this year, shortly before he returned to the White House. Trump had been accused of attempting to interfere with the peaceful transfer of power, spreading “lies that there had been outcome-determinative fraud in the election and that he had actually won,” a campaign that culminated in the January 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol. Trump has consistently denied any wrongdoing.
Presidential pardons cannot be applied to state-level criminal charges, and prosecutors in Nevada, Georgia, Wisconsin, Arizona, and Michigan have filed cases related to the false electors effort. While a judge in Michigan dismissed the charges in September, other cases remain tied up in procedural and appellate reviews.
Giuliani became a prominent adviser to Trump during his first term and faced accusations of spreading conspiracy theories and unsubstantiated claims about Trump’s election loss. He was disbarred in New York and Washington, D.C., and declared bankruptcy after being held liable for $148 million for defaming Georgia election workers. Giuliani also faces an indictment in Arizona over similar allegations regarding the 2020 election.
Meadows played a key role in Trump’s attempts to remain in office after the November 2020 election. The Supreme Court rejected his effort last year to move his Georgia prosecution to federal court.
News of the pardons was first reported by Kyle Cheney, senior legal affairs reporter for Politico, citing Martin’s social media post.
