rudy Giuliani and Mark Meadows, both close former political allies of Donald Trump, are among scores of people pardoned by the president over the weekend for their roles in a plot to steal the 2020 election.
The maneuver is largely symbolic, given it only applies in the federal justice system and not in state courts, where Giuliani, Meadows and the others continue facing legal peril. the acts of clemency were announced in a post late on Sunday to X by US pardon attorney Ed Martin, covering 77 people said to have been the architects and agents of the scheme to install fake Republican electors in several battleground states, which would have falsely declared Trump their winner rather of the actual victor: Joe Biden.Those pardoned include Giuliani and Sidney Powell, former lawyers to Trump, and Meadows, who acted as White House chief of staff during his first term of office. Other prominent names include Jenna Ellis and John Eastman, attorneys who advised Trump during and promptly after the election.
“Let their healing begin,” Martin said in the post,in which he thanked Trump,the attorney general,Pam Bondi,and her deputy,Todd Blanche,for “allowing me … to achieve your intent”.
Related: Rudy Giuliani and Dominion settle $1.3bn defamation suit over election lies
Martin is a staunchly conservative ally of the president said to be behind the “weaponization” of the justice department and a push to “bully, prosecute, punish and silence” Trump’s political foes and critics, including the recent indictments of the former FBI director James Comey, New York attorney general, Letitia James, and former national security adviser John Bolton.
Giuliani’s spokesperson Ted Goodman said on Monday that the former New York mayor “never sought a pardon but is deeply grateful for President Trump’s decision”.
The statement said: “Mayor Rudy giuliani sta