Trump Pardons Giuliani and Other "Great Americans" Involved in Effort to Overturn 2020 Election

President Trump has granted pardons to his former lawyer Rudolph W. Giuliani and a wide array of other people accused of trying to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election, according to the Justice Department’s pardon attorney. The pardon attorney, Ed Martin, a lawyer who has long supported the rioters who were themselves granted clemency by Mr. Trump for attacking the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, posted a copy of the pardon proclamation on social media early Monday morning with a list of those who were covered by it.

Aside from Mr. Giuliani, the list included John Eastman, a conservative lawyer who advised Mr. Trump’s 2020 campaign; Mark Meadows, the former White House chief of staff; Boris Epshteyn, a top presidential adviser; and Sidney Powell, another lawyer who led one of the most far-fetched efforts to use the courts to reverse Mr. Trump’s electoral defeat.

The pardons, which only apply to federal crimes, are primarily symbolic. None of those named on the list are currently facing federal charges, and the pardons cannot shield them from continuing state-level prosecutions. Even though the pardons will have little practical effect, they stand as a reminder that Mr. Trump has often used his expansive powers to reward and protect his allies, even as his Justice Department has shattered traditional norms of independence from the White House by following his orders to pursue criminal cases against those he perceives to be his enemies.

In a statement, Karoline Leavitt, the White House press secretary, called those who had received the pardons “great Americans,” claiming they had been “put through hell by the Biden administration for challenging an election.”

It represented, among other things, the latest effort by Mr. Trump to sustain the lie that the vote count had been rigged against him in 2020 and to rewrite the history of Jan. 6, which he has repeatedly referred to as “a day of love” despite the violence that erupted against scores of police officers protecting the Capitol.

Beyond Mr. Trump’s lawyers and advisers, the pardons covered several state-level officials who submitted so-called fake slates of electors to the Electoral College, falsely claiming that Mr. Trump had won the 2020 race in states that were actually won by Mr. Biden. Many of those officials are still facing prosecution on state charges.

The broad language of the proclamation, granting “full, complete and unconditional” pardons to everyone on the list, was likely to protect those named against any future efforts to bring federal charges related to the 2020 election. It could also cover many others who sought to challenge the results of the election, including members of Congress who took part in the campaign to pressure Vice President Mike Pence not to certify Mr. Biden’s victory.

Mr. Giuliani, Ms. Powell, Mr. Epshteyn and Mr. Eastman have not faced federal charges in connection with the 2020 election. But they were identified — albeit not by name — as unindicted co-conspirators in the federal case filed in 2023 by Jack Smith, the special counsel, accusing Mr. Trump of interlocking conspiracies to reverse his defeat to Mr. Biden and to interrupt the transfer of presidential power.

A spokesman for Mr. Giuliani, Ted Goodman, said in a statement on Monday that he had not sought the pardon but was “deeply grateful” to Mr. Trump for having issued it. “Mayor Rudy Giuliani stands by his work following the 2020 presidential election, when he responded to the legitimate concerns of thousands of everyday Americans,” Mr. Goodman said.

In 2023, Mr. Giuliani was found guilty of defaming two poll workers in Georgia, whom he falsely accused of trying to steal the election from Mr. Trump. The women, who said they endured a torrent of abuse and threats of violence, were later awarded $148 million. The verdict prompted Mr. Giuliani to file for bankruptcy, but his claim was dismissed after a court said he had refused to comply with his reporting requirements.

He and Ms. Powell settled separate lawsuits with Dominion Voting Systems, an election technology company that Mr. Giuliani falsely claimed had plotted to flip votes in favor of Mr. Biden.

Ms. Powell was penalized by a federal judge in 2021 for her role in filing multiple lawsuits asserting that a cabal of “deep-state” operatives aided by Venezuelan intelligence agents and the financier George Soros stole the election from Mr. Trump by hacking into Dominion voting machines. In the judge’s ruling imposing the sanctions, she accused Ms. Powell and other lawyers of “a historic and profound abuse of the judicial process.”

Mr. Giuliani, Mr. Epshteyn, Mr. Meadows and Mr. Eastman are still facing state election interference charges in Arizona, where prosecutors said they were part of a scheme that sought to falsely declare Mr. Trump the winner of that state’s 2020 presidential contest. Part of the effort involved putting pressure on local election officials in Arizona to change results to favor Mr. Trump, prosecutors said.

That case, however, remains in a kind of legal limbo.