President Donald Trump has granted “full, complete, and unconditional” pardons to more than 70 political allies who played roles in efforts to challenge the results of the 2020 presidential election, according to the Department of Justice’s Pardon Attorney, Ed Martin. The announcement came early Monday via a social media post from Martin, who shared the signed proclamation containing the names of prominent figures including Rudy Giuliani, Trump’s former personal lawyer and ex-Mayor of New York, his former chief of staff Mark Meadows, and attorneys Sidney Powell and John Eastman.
Martin credited the White House and DOJ team for coordinating the pardons, writing, “Thank you, POTUS, for allowing me, as U.S. Pardon Attorney, to work with the White House, along with Attorney General Pam Bondi, Deputy AG Todd Blanche, and Solicitor General John Sauer to achieve your intent. Let their healing begin.”
The proclamation describes the pardons as a measure to address what it calls “a grave national injustice perpetrated upon the American people following the 2020 presidential election” and frames the action as part of “the process of national reconciliation.” The pardons apply specifically to actions related to the advice, creation, execution, or support of any slate of presidential electors connected to the 2020 election.
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt defended the move in a statement to TIME, calling the recipients “great Americans” who were “persecuted and put through hell by the Biden Administration for challenging an election, which is the cornerstone of democracy.”
Giuliani, one of the most high-profile recipients, was held in contempt of court in January for failing to comply with a ruling to surrender $11 million of personal assets to Georgia poll workers he had falsely accused of election fraud. He later reached a settlement in the matter. Trump announced in September plans to award Giuliani the Presidential Medal of Freedom, shortly after Giuliani sustained injuries in a car accident in New Hampshire.
The pardons follow a pattern of clemency related to the aftermath of the 2020 election. In January, Trump issued pardons for nearly 1,600 individuals involved in the January 6 Capitol riot, including Proud Boys leader Enrique Tarrio, who was serving a 22-year sentence.
Former Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi criticized the latest pardons, calling them “an outrageous insult to our justice system and the heroes who suffered physical scars and emotional trauma as they protected the Capitol.”
Trump has repeatedly promoted false claims that he won the 2020 election over President Joe Biden. The pardons are likely to intensify scrutiny over his post-election actions and the ongoing political and legal debates surrounding the 2020 election and the January 6 attacks.
The announcement marks another high-profile intervention in legal matters related to Trump’s allies, furthering divisions over accountability and the limits of presidential clemency.
