Trump pardons Giuliani, allies involved in trying to overturn 2020 election

US President Donald Trump has pardoned his former personal lawyer Rudy Giuliani, his former chief of staff Mark Meadows and others accused of backing the Republican’s efforts to overturn the 2020 election, a Justice Department official says.

Ed Martin, the government’s pardon lawyer, posted on social media a signed proclamation of the “full, complete, and unconditional” pardon, which also names conservative lawyers Sidney Powell and John Eastman. The proclamation, posted online late on Sunday, explicitly says the pardon does not apply to Trump.

Presidential pardons apply only to federal crimes, and none of the Trump allies named were charged in federal cases over the 2020 election. But the move underscores Trump’s continued efforts to rewrite the history of the election he lost to Democrat Joe Biden.

It follows the sweeping pardons of the hundreds of Trump supporters charged in the January 6, 2021, riot at the US Capitol, including those convicted of attacking law enforcement.

The proclamation described efforts to prosecute those accused of aiding Trump’s efforts to cling to power “as a grave national injustice perpetrated on the American people” and said the pardons were designed to continue “the process of national reconciliation”.

The White House didn’t immediately respond to an email seeking comment on Monday.