Trump pardons dozens of people that were involved in 2020 ‘fake electors’ case
Topics: News, US News, Donald Trump, Politics
Kit Roberts
Featured Image Credit: Getty Images/Andrew Harnik
Topics: News, US News, Donald Trump, Politics
Donald Trump has issued pardons to dozens of people involved in a 'fake electors' case from 2020, calling it a 'grave national injustice'.
Among the 77 people who have been issued a pardon by the president are some individuals who are close to Trump. These include former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani, Sidney Powell, and Kenneth Chesebro.
People who were given a 'full, complete, and unconditional' pardon by the president had allegedly been involved in a plot to arrange alternate slates of electors in key states in the election.
The states were ones which former US president Joe Biden had previously won in the election, such as Arizona, Georgia, Nevada, Michigan, and Wisconsin.
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Trump himself was also included on the indictment, though the president has not issued a pardon to himself.
In addition to his close allies, several of Trump's advisors have also been named on the list of those pardoned, including John Eastman, Christina Bobb, and Boris Epshteyn.
Trump wrote in the pardoning document, which has been released, that the pardons addressed a 'grave national injustice'.
“This proclamation ends a grave national injustice perpetrated upon the American people following the 2020 Presidential Election and continues the process of national reconciliation,” he said.
Trump was referred to as 'Unindicted Coconspirator 1' in the indictment.
“In Arizona and the United States, the people elected Joseph Biden as President on November 3, 2020,” the indictment read. “Unwilling to accept this fact, Defendants and unindicted coconspirators schemed to prevent the lawful transfer of the presidency to keep Unindicted Coconspirator 1 in office against the will of Arizona’s voters.”
A line near the end of the pardoning document says that Trump is not among those being pardoned.
It says: “This pardon does not apply to the President of the United States, Donald J. Trump."
The alleged plot revolved around overturning the result of the 2020 US presidential election, which saw Joe Biden beat Donald Trump as he ran for a second term.
Many of Trump's supporters continue to contest that he did win the 2020 election, though if this were true, which it is not, then he would not have been eligible to run again in 2024.
Trump's defeat in 2020 was met with riots at the US Capitol building on January 6, as MAGA supporters stormed the building and broke into the chamber as well as the offices of senior members of the Democrat party.
In 2024, Trump was elected for a second term to the White House after defeating Kamala Harris.