WASHINGTON (AP) — pardon Among the dozens of Republicans accused of participating in the effort to overturn 2020 election It is a continuation of President Donald Trump’s attempt to rewrite the history of his election defeat.
they will come in a few months President Trump’s major pardon All of the more than 1,500 people indicted Attack on January 6, 2021 The speech on Capitol Hill was the culmination of President Trump’s campaign to reverse his loss to Democrat Joe Biden.
Unlike the Jan. 6 pardon, the new pardon has little legal effect. None of the people on the new pardon list faced federal charges for their actions in 2020. A presidential pardon does not affect state or civil lawsuits.
But they are sending a signal to those looking to deny future elections in Trump’s favor.
Here are some of the notable people who received pardons.
Rudy Giuliani
The former New York mayor, hailed as “America’s Mayor” after the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks, played a pivotal role in promoting this policy. President Trump’s baseless claims of voter fraud He was appointed as the Republican Party’s personal attorney in 2020. He has faced numerous legal and financial difficulties for defending Trump’s false claims. lose one’s law license in Washington and New York. He has pleaded not guilty to criminal charges in cases brought by state prosecutors in Georgia and Arizona. These cases face obstacles but remain unresolved and are not affected by President Trump’s pardons. Mr. Giuliani was ordered in 2023 to: pay $148 million Two Georgia election officials who sued him over lies he spread reached an agreement in January to settle their debts and keep some of their assets. The amount the women were to receive was not disclosed. Mr. Giuliani has denied any wrongdoing and said he was right to contest an election believed to be tainted by fraud.
mark meadows
Meadows, who served as President Trump’s chief of staff during the 2020 election and its aftermath, was charged in the Arizona and Georgia cases and has pleaded not guilty in both states. Last year, the U.S. Supreme Court rejected his efforts to sue; In Georgia, his case would be sent to federal court, and a pardon would nullify his danger. Meadows argued that his post-election actions were taken in his official capacity as White House chief of staff, but prosecutors and the judge disagreed. Meadows was on the phone when President Trump asked Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger, a Republican. “Find” enough votes be declared the state winner.
Kenneth Chesebro
Prosecutors in Fulton County, Georgia, allege that Chesebro, at the direction of the Trump campaign, worked with Georgia Republicans to organize 16 people to sign certificates falsely claiming that Trump had won the state and that they were Trump’s “duly elected and eligible” electors. Chesebro pled guilty to conspiracy charges in the state case; Attempts to withdraw his plea failed. The move comes as a major lawsuit against him and 17 other people, including Trump, collapsed due to legal issues. As a result of Mr. Chesebro’s plea, his New York state law license was suspended.
jenna ellis
Ellis is a prominent conservative media figure and attorney. pleaded guilty One count of aiding and abetting false statements and posts in a Georgia case. She apologized in court and was criticized for advising the Trump campaign on how to overturn its defeat. prohibited from practicing law Her act in 2020 marked a three-year stint in her hometown of Colorado.
john eastman
Eastman, a prominent conservative law professor, wrote an important memo outlining Trump’s strategy to reverse the president’s election loss by presenting Congress with a special slate of electors. Mr. Eastman is charged in a state lawsuit brought by Arizona’s Democratic attorney general over the plan. He was also charged in Fulton County, and the California State Bar Disciplinary Commission recommended that he be disqualified from practicing law in California. Eastman has pleaded not guilty in the criminal case and has appealed. his license suspended To the California Supreme Court. He claims he is being punished simply for providing legal advice.
Jeffrey Clark
As a Justice Department official in the first Trump administration, Clark drafted a letter saying the Justice Department was investigating “a variety of irregularities” and had identified “serious concerns” that could have affected elections in Georgia and other states. Clark had hoped to send a letter to Georgia lawmakers, but the Justice Department the boss refused. In July, the Washington State Bar Disciplinary Commission recommended that he “deliberately make false statements” when he continued to ask the Justice Department to issue a letter after being told by his supervisor that it contained lies, and recommended that he “intentionally make false statements.” “I did nothing wrong when I questioned the 2020 Georgia election,” Clark, who currently oversees federal regulators in the second Trump administration, said in a post on X on Monday.
sidney powell
with a lawyer Trump’s loyal allyMr. Powell filed a series of lawsuits in battleground states that were rejected by courts and played a pivotal role in pushing baseless claims of fraud. Emails and documents obtained through subpoenas in one case showed Mr. Powell was involved in arranging local travel for a computer forensics team. coffee countyis the second defendant to plead guilty in 2023 to a reduced charge in the Georgia case and reach an agreement with prosecutors to copy data and software from election equipment located about 200 miles (320 kilometers) southeast of Atlanta in January 2021. She was initially charged with racketeering and six other charges, but she pleaded guilty to six misdemeanor counts of conspiracy to intentionally obstruct the performance of election duties and was ultimately sentenced to probation.
