Trump pardons Rudy Giuliani and others, official says

WASHINGTON (AP) – President Donald Trump pardoned his former personal lawyer Rudy Giulianihis former chief of staff Marc Prés and others accused of supporting the Republican’s efforts to overturn the 2020 election.

The “total, complete and unconditional” pardon granted to dozens of Trump’s allies is largely symbolic. This only applies to federal crimes, and none of the people named in the proclamation have ever been federally charged with trying to overturn the election. won by Democrat Joe Biden. This does not affect state charges, although state prosecutions arising from the 2020 election are in a bind or simply limping.

The move, however, underscores Trump’s continued efforts to promote the idea that the 2020 election was stolen of him even if courts across the country and that of Trump own attorney general at the time, there was no evidence of fraud that could have affected the outcome. Notice, tell And checks of the election in the Battlefield States where Trump disputed his loss also claimed Biden’s victory.

Trump’s recent action follows mass pardons granted to hundreds of people. Trump supporters charged in January 6, 2021 riot at the U.S. Capitol, including those convicted of attacking law enforcement.

Ed Martin, the Justice Department’s pardon chief and former attorney for the Jan. 6 defendants, linked his announcement of the pardons to a post on X that read “No MAGA Left Behind.”

Dozens of Trump allies pardoned

Among those also pardoned were Sydney Powella lawyer who promoted baseless conspiracy theories about a stolen election, John Eastmananother lawyer who pushed a plan to keep Trump in power, and Jeffrey Clarka former Justice Department official who defended Trump’s efforts to challenge his election defeat.

Also named are Republicans who acted as fake voters for Trump and were indicted in state cases accusing them of submitting false certificates confirming they were legitimate voters despite Biden’s victory in those states.

The proclamation explicitly states that the pardon does not apply to the president himself, who continued to repeat the lie that the 2020 election was stolen from him, used this lie to argue for radical changes in the way of voting in the country and asked his Justice Department investigate the vote count that led to his loss.

The pardon describes efforts to pursue Trump allies as “a grave national injustice perpetrated against the American people” and says the pardons are intended to continue “the process of national reconciliation.” Giuliani and others have denied any wrongdoing, arguing they were simply contesting an election they believed to be tainted by fraud.

“These great Americans were persecuted and subjected to hell by the Biden administration for contesting an election, which is the cornerstone of democracy,” White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said in an emailed statement.

The pardoned individuals, however, were not prosecuted by the Biden administration. They were charged only by prosecutors who operate separately from the Justice Department.

A Associated Press investigation After the 2020 election, 475 cases of potential voter fraud were discovered nationwide. six battlefield statesfar too little to change the outcome.

The impact of pardons is limited

Giuliani, a former mayor of New York, was one of the most ardent supporters of Trump’s unfounded claims of large-scale voter fraud after the 2020 elections. It is also an example of the limited impact of pardons.

Giuliani has was disbarred in Washington, DC and New York for his advocacy of Trump’s false election claims and lost in $148 million defamation lawsuit brought by two former Georgia election workers whose lives were upended by the conspiracy theories he promoted. Since pardons only absolve people of legal responsibility for federal crimes, they are unlikely to alleviate Giuliani’s legal problems.

Ted Goodman, Giuliani’s spokesman, said the former mayor “never asked for a pardon but is deeply grateful for President Trump’s decision.”

“Mayor Rudy Giuliani stands by his work following the 2020 presidential election, when he addressed the legitimate concerns of thousands of ordinary Americans,” Goodman said in an emailed statement.

Although these pardons may have no immediate legal impact, experts warn that they send a dangerous message for the upcoming elections.

“It’s a complete abdication of the federal government’s responsibility to ensure that we don’t have further attempts to overturn the election,” said Rick Hasen, a law professor at UCLA. “Ultimately, the message it sends is ‘We’ll take care of you when the time comes.'”

Some pardoned were co-conspirators in Trump’s federal case

Trump himself was federally indicted criminal charges accusing him of working to overturn his 2020 election defeat, but the case brought by Justice Department special counsel Jack Smith was abandoned in November after Trump’s victory over Democrat Kamala Harris due to the department’s policy against prosecutions of sitting presidents. Giuliani, Powell, Eastman and Clark were alleged co-conspirators in the federal case brought against Trump, but were never charged with federal crimes.

Giuliani, Meadows and others named in the proclamation had been indicted by prosecutors in Georgia, Arizona, Michigan, Nevada and Wisconsin over the 2020 election, but the cases repeatedly encountered roadblocks or were fired. In September, a judge threw out Michigan’s case against 15 Republicans accused of trying to falsely certify Trump as the winner of the election in the battleground state.

Eastman, former dean of the Chapman University School of Law in Southern California, was a close adviser to Trump following the 2020 election and wrote a memo describing Steps Vice President Mike Pence Could Take to stop the counting of electoral votes while presiding over the joint session of Congress on January 6 to keep Trump in power.

Clark, who now oversees a federal regulatory office, is also facing possible deregistration in Washington for his support of Trump’s claims. Clark clashed with Justice Department superiors over a letter he wrote after the 2020 election in which he said the department was investigating “various irregularities” and had identified “significant concerns” that could have affected elections in Georgia and other states.

Clark said in a social media post Monday that he “did nothing wrong” and “should not have had to lead this witch hunt for over 4 years.”

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Associated Press reporter Nicholas Riccardi in Denver contributed to this report.