US President Donald Trump has granted full pardons to Rudy Giuliani, his former personal lawyer, and Mark Meadows, his former chief of staff, for their roles in efforts to overturn the 2020 presidential election.
According to Ed Martin, the government’s pardon attorney, the proclamation was posted online on Sunday night.
The proclamation also includes conservative lawyers Sidney Powell and John Eastman.
It states that the pardon is “full, complete, and unconditional,” but clarifies that it does not apply to Trump himself.
None of the individuals named had been charged with federal offences, which are the only category covered by presidential pardons.
The Associated Press reports that the move underscores Trump’s continued efforts to recast the events of the 2020 election, which he lost to Joe Biden.
The pardon also extends to Republicans who acted as alternate electors for Trump in states won by Biden and who are currently facing state charges for submitting false certificates claiming they were duly appointed electors.
The proclamation described those prosecutions as “a grave national injustice perpetrated on the American people” and said the pardons were issued to advance “the process of national reconciliation.”
