Trump pardons Rudy Giuliani, other key figures allegedly involved in efforts to overturn 2020 election
President Donald Trump issued a sweeping pardon to key figures allegedly involved in the plan to arrange an alternate slate of electors and "expose voting fraud" during the 2020 election, according to U.S. Pardon Attorney Ed Martin.
Trump pardoned high-profile individuals allegedly involved in his attempt to overturn the election, including Rudy Giuliani, Sidney Powell, Boris Epshteyn, John Eastman and Mark Meadows -- and 72 other individuals allegedly associated with the effort to challenge the 2020 election results.
The pardons are largely symbolic as no one on the list was facing federal charges, and Trump does not have the ability to pardon states charges.
Dozens of people on the list faced or are facing charges connected to investigations in Georgia, Arizona, Michigan and Nevada, although most of the cases have stalled.
The pardons, which Trump appears to have signed on Friday, covers each of the president's co-defendants who were charged in Georgia in 2023 for a sweeping scheme to overturn the election results.
Four of the pardon recipients pleaded guilty in the Georgia case.
"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 pardon says.
The pardon language explicitly states that it does not apply to Trump himself. "This pardon does not apply to the president of the United States," according to the pardon.
Trump and 18 others pleaded not guilty in August 2023 to all charges in a sweeping racketeering indictment for alleged efforts to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election in the state of Georgia.
The charges, which were brought by Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis following Trump's Jan. 2, 2021, phone call in which he asked Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger to "find" the votes needed to win the state, allege that the defendants solicited state leaders throughout the country, harassed and misled a Georgia election worker, and pushed phony claims that the election was stolen, all in an effort for Trump to remain in power despite his election loss.
Powell, as well as Jenna Ellis, Kenneth Chesebro and Scott Hall subsequently took plea deals in exchange for agreeing to testify against other defendants.
Willis was subsequently disqualified from the case following accusations of impropriety regarding her relationship with a fellow prosecutor, leaving a council of Georgia attorneys to assign an independent prosecutor to take over the case and determine its fate.
"We will continue to carry out our responsibilities without being influenced by matters outside the scope of our assigned task," Pete Skandalakis, executive director of the Prosecuting Attorneys' Council of Georgia, said Monday.
Giuliani also faces criminal charges in Arizona for his role in the so-called "fake electors" plot, with the case scheduled to go to trial in January -- though officials believe that date will slide if the case proceeds to trial.
A spokesperson for the Arizona attorney general's office, told ABC News that "these pardons will have no impact on the state's case."
In May, a judge ordered Arizona's Democratic Attorney General Kris Mayes to go back to the grand jury and present all her evidence again after Mayes allegedly failing to share with jurors the full text of the relevant law, which the judge said was "central to the defendant's claims that they were acting lawfully and without an intent to defraud."
Mayes' office is now considering whether to dispute that ruling, go back to the grand jury, or proceed with the case at all. She has until Nov. 21 to inform the court of her next steps.
A spokesperson for Giuliani said Trump's pardon should clear the way for the former New York City mayor to regain his law license, after he was disbarred last year for making "false and misleading statements to courts, lawmakers, and the public at large ... in connection with Trump's failed effort at reelection in 2020."
"Mayor Rudy Giuliani stands by his work following the 2020 presidential election, when he responded to the legitimate concerns of thousands of everyday Americans," said Giuliani spokesperson Ted Goodman. "Mayor Giuliani never sought a pardon but is deeply grateful for President Trump's decision. This action further highlights the years of unjust attacks against the mayor and so many others and reinforces what should now be clear to everyone -- Mayor Giuliani deserves to have his bar license immediately reinstated without delay."
