President Donald Trump granted full pardons to numerous political allies accused of trying to overturn the 2020 election, a broad move described as an effort toward “national reconciliation.”
The proclamation, posted late Sunday by Justice Department Pardon Attorney Ed Martin, grants “full, complete, and unconditional” pardons to 77 individuals, including former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani, former White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows, and attorneys John Eastman, Kenneth Chesebro, and Sidney Powell.
Important pardon of Alternate Electors of 2020!! pic.twitter.com/iuDGv9fqyy
— Eagle Ed Martin (@EagleEdMartin) November 10, 2025
The order, signed November 7, declared that the move “ends a grave national injustice perpetrated upon the American people following the 2020 Presidential Election.” It extends the 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.”
The pardons apply to a wide range of Trump allies, including state Republican officials and activists who signed alternative elector certificates in Georgia, Nevada, Wisconsin, and Arizona. The document explicitly excludes Trump himself.
The pardons are largely symbolic because none of the named individuals were charged with federal crimes. Some, such as Powell, a once prominent Dallas attorney, pleaded guilty to state misdemeanor charges in Georgia and were sentenced to probation. Presidents cannot pardon state-level offenses, meaning those facing prosecutions in state courts will see no legal relief.
Among those listed are former Georgia GOP Chair David Shafer, Arizona’s Kelli Ward, and Nevada’s Michael McDonald, all of whom were charged by state prosecutors for participating in the alternate elector plan. Former Trump attorney Jenna Ellis, who pleaded guilty in Georgia and cooperated with prosecutors, was also named.
White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt defended the decision in a statement, saying, “These great Americans were persecuted and put through hell by the Biden Administration for challenging an election, which is the cornerstone of democracy,” per NPR. She added that “President Trump is putting an end to the Biden Regime’s communist tactics once and for all.”
Some former allies criticized the move.
“None of these people are the subject of any federal charges – there’s no reason to pardon at this stage of the game … other than as part of … the Trump administration effort to cleanse the uncleanable stain of January 6 from the history books and portray it as something it clearly wasn’t,” said Ty Cobb, a White House lawyer during Trump’s first administration who later became a critic, per The Washington Post.
Earlier this year, Trump also pardoned more than 1,000 individuals convicted for participating in the January 6, 2021, disturbance at the U.S. Capitol.
