President Trump granted pardons to a long list of political allies accused of trying to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election, according to Ed Martin, the Justice Department prosecutor responsible for the pardons.
The people listed were accused or indicted for various crimes or conduct related to attempts to subvert the 2020 elections, which Trump falsely claimed to have won. Some faced state proceedings, while others were never formally charged.
A proclamation published on Martin’s personal Facebook account late Sunday listed 77 people who received “full, complete, and unconditional” pardons, including Rudy Giuliani, former White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows, and Sidney Powell, Trump’s former lawyer who spread conspiracy theories about election fraud after Trump’s defeat in the 2020 elections.
Powell is one of four people who received pardons and who pleaded guilty in a Georgia court after being indicted for trying to subvert the 2020 election results in that state. The pardons are largely symbolic, as none of the names listed were ever charged with federal crimes. Dozens of people listed were accused in several key states that were the focus of unfounded election fraud claims, including Georgia, Nevada, Arizona, and Wisconsin. Presidents do not have the power to grant pardons for state crimes.
The proclamation appears to have been signed on Friday. It also made clear that Trump was not among those pardoned. Trump had previously claimed to have the “absolute right” to self-pardon—a claim that remains untested. The Supreme Court granted the president broad immunity for official acts committed during his tenure.
In a statement to NPR, White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said: “These great Americans were persecuted and put through hell by the Biden administration for challenging an election, which is the cornerstone of democracy,” adding: “President Trump is putting a definitive end to the communist tactics of the Biden regime.”
In January, Trump pardoned about 1,500 people who participated in the January 6 protests at the U.S. Capitol, four years earlier. Among those pardoned was Enrique Tarrio, former president of the Proud Boys group, who had been convicted of “seditious conspiracy” and sentenced to 22 years in federal prison.
This latest series of pardons, though symbolic, appears to be part of Trump’s long-standing efforts to rewrite history and amplify his false claims that the 2020 election, won by Joe Biden, was stolen. When questioned about these false claims in a 2022 interview with NPR’s Steve Inskeep, Trump repeatedly tried to spread more disinformation about his election defeat before abruptly ending the call.
Source: npr.org by Rebecca Rosman