Donald Trump has gone on another controversial pardoning spree. This week, the president issued pardons for Rudy Giuliani, Mark Meadows, Sidney Powell, and many other allies of his who were accused of trying to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election, which he has long claimed was rigged, despite evidence against it.
This is far from the first of the former reality star's controversial pardons, which most recently included U.S. Representative George Santos, who pleaded guilty to wire fraud and identity theft last year, as well as a slew of January 6 insurrectionists who attacked the U.S. Capitol in 2021. Here's what to know.
The pardons
In a proclamation dated Friday, November 7, Trump said he was issuing a "full, complete and unconditional pardon" to the former New York City mayor and over 70 allies for their support of him after he lost the 2020 election to former President Joe Biden. "Thank you: @POTUS for allowing me, as U.S. Pardon Attorney, to work with @WhiteHouse, along with @AGPamBondi, @DAGToddBlanche & SG John Sauer, to achieve your intent — let their healing begin. #Federalist74," Ed Martin, a member of the United States Department of Justice, wrote on X, announcing the pardons.
"This proclamation ends a grave national injustice perpetrated upon the American people following the 2020 Presidential Election and continues the process of national reconciliation," the official document reads.
It follows: "I, Donald J. Trump do hereby grant a full, complete and unconditional pardon to all United States citizens for conduct relating to the advice, creation, organization, execution, submission support, voting, activities, participation in, or advocacy for or of any slate or proposed slate of Presidential electors, whether or not recognized by any State or State official, in connection with the 2020 Presidential Election, as well as for any conduct relating to their efforts to expose voting fraud and vulnerabilities in the 2020 Presidential Election."
There has never been any evidence to substantiate Trump's claims that the 2020 election was rigged, and in November 2020, officials across the United States refuted his allegations. And though he never faced consequences and went on to win the 2024 presidential election, three years later, he was indicted on charges of election interference, and, separately, later also found guilty on 34 felony counts of falsifying business records, becoming the first convicted felon to become president.
Who he pardoned
Among the 70+ people pardoned were Giuliani, who helped lead an effort to pressure state legislatures to reject Biden's wins in key swing states, Meadows, Trump's chief of staff in 2020, Powell, a conservative attorney who launched a slate of lawsuits challenging election results in key swing states, John Eastman and Kenneth Chesebro, two attorneys who helped strategize a pressure campaign towards then-Vice President Mike Pence to overturn the election on January 6, 2021, and Boris Epshteyn, a longtime Trump advisor.
What the pardons mean
Though Trump's use of his pardoning privilege has definitely angered many — he also recently handed a full and unconditional pardon to Changpeng Zhao, the former CEO of Binance, who pleaded guilty to money laundering charges, though he later said he does not know who he is — these pardons are largely symbolic, as they are federal pardons, which can only be used for federal charges, and none of those identified were charged with federal crimes, therefore the rulings against them do not change.