Trump pardons Giuliani and others involved in effort to overturn 2020 election

WASHINGTON – President Donald Trump has granted preemptive pardons to Rudy Giuliani and others accused of trying to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election, according to an official familiar with the matter.

The official, who requested anonymity because of the sensitivity of the issue, said on Nov 10 that those pardoned include John Eastman, a lawyer who advised Mr Trump’s 2020 campaign, and Sidney Powell, a conservative pundit who was briefly a public face of his campaign.

The presidential pardons, which would apply only in federal court, are largely symbolic. None of those named are currently facing federal charges, and the pardons cannot shield them from ongoing state-level prosecutions.

Giuliani, the president’s former lawyer and confidant, was a leading voice in efforts to invalidate the results of the 2020 election,
which Mr Trump lost to the Democratic candidate, Mr Joe Biden.

In the weeks afterward, Giuliani made widespread statements claiming that the election had been “stolen” from Mr Trump and that Mr Biden’s victory was fraudulent.

Giuliani has faced many legal troubles relating to his false and misleading statements surrounding the 2020 election. In 2024, he was disbarred from practising law in New York by a judge who said he had “baselessly attacked and undermined the integrity of this country’s electoral process”.

In 2023, a federal jury found Giuliani guilty of defaming two poll workers in Georgia, whom he falsely accused of attempting to steal the election from Mr Trump. The women, who said they endured a torrent of abuse and threats of violence, were later awarded US$148 million (S$193 million).

The verdict prompted Giuliani to file for bankruptcy, but his claim was dismissed after a court said he had refused to comply with his reporting requirements.

He settled a separate lawsuit with Dominion Voting Systems, an election technology company that Giuliani falsely claimed had plotted to flip votes in favour of Mr Biden.

Giuliani is currently facing election interference charges in Arizona, where prosecutors said he was part of a scheme that sought to falsely declare Mr Trump the winner of that state’s 2020 presidential contest. Part of the effort involved putting pressure on local election officials in Arizona to change results to favor Trump, prosecutors said.

Giuliani, who has pleaded not guilty, was set to face trial in that case in January. NYTIMES