Trump pardons 2020 fake electors, other GOP allies

Rudy Giuliani at 2025 9/11 ceremony in New York City

(Image credit: Michael M. Santiago / Getty Images)

What happened

President Donald Trump has pardoned Rudy Giuliani and other allies who tried to overturn his 2020 election loss in court, Trump pardon attorney Ed Martin said on social media late Sunday. Martin’s office Monday posted a list of other unannounced pardons, including the husband of Rep. Diana Harshbarger (R-Tenn.) and two former Tennessee GOP lawmakers awaiting prison on public corruption charges, as Trump continues to use the “unfettered presidential clemency power” to “reward allies and make political points,” The New York Times said.

Who said what

Trump’s election-interference “mass pardon — the first in history to cover people accused of criminally conspiring with the president who issued it” — is his latest effort to “erase the stain of his failed attempt to subvert” his 2020 loss, Politico said. He already pardoned the “mob of Trump supporters” who participated in the “violent attack on the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021.”

The clemency for Giuliani, Mark Meadows, Sidney Powell, Jenna Ellis, John Eastman, Jeffrey Clark, Boris Epshteyn and others involved in fake electors schemes “appeared to carry no immediate practical effect,” as none of them “have been charged with federal crimes” and Trump can’t pardon them over pending state charges, The Washington Post said. But they “signaled Trump’s continued focus on relitigating his 2020 defeat,” elevating an “obsession that animates elements of his base but alienates many others.”

What next?

Trump’s critics “see the pardon as a permission slip for similar efforts in 2026 and 2028,” Politico said. The president is “sending a message to his supporters that if you commit a crime in the name of Donald Trump, I’ve got your back,” said former U.S. pardon attorney Liz Oyer.

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Peter has worked as a news and culture writer and editor at The Week since the site's launch in 2008. He covers politics, world affairs, religion and cultural currents. His journalism career began as a copy editor at a financial newswire and has included editorial positions at The New York Times Magazine, Facts on File, and Oregon State University.