US President Donald Trump has pardoned dozens of allies accused of backing his attempts to overturn the 2020 election.
Among those pardoned by the president are his former lawyers, his one-time chief of staff and a former publicist of Kanye West, now known as Ye.
Justice Department pardon attorney Ed Martin posted to social media a signed proclamation of the "full, complete and unconditional" pardon, along with a list of the more than 70 people involved.
"This proclamation ends a grave national injustice perpetrated upon the American people following the 2020 Presidential Election and continues the process of national reconciliation," the document, signed by Mr Trump, said.
The people listed were involved with a plan commonly dubbed the "fake electors" scheme, a conspiracy which has been the subject of investigations and trials in multiple states.
What is the fake electors scheme?
US presidents are not elected by direct popular vote — instead, each state appoints electors to cast a vote and send the results to Congress.
The winning candidate must receive at least 270 of the 538 total electoral college votes. Each presidential candidate has their own group of electors in each state, known as a "slate".
After the election, each state awards its electoral votes to the slate aligned with the winning candidate.
According to a congressional committee, Mr Trump and his allies sought to name Trump-friendly electors or to refuse to name any electors in key states.
In seven states, the Trump campaign assembled its own slate of electors to case their vote in favour of the Republican president on the same day legitimate electors cast their ballots for Biden.
The plan was to use these false ballots to pressure then-vice president Mike Pence to discard the actual results when he was tasked with certifying the election outcome.
Who has been pardoned this time?
The latest announcement follows the sweeping pardons of the hundreds of Trump supporters charged in the January 6, 2021, riot at the US Capitol, including those convicted of attacking law enforcement.
Those pardoned this week include both high-profile actors and those accused of acting as false electors in swing states.
"These great Americans were persecuted and put through hell by the Biden administration for challenging an election, which is the cornerstone of democracy," White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said in an emailed statement.
Rudy Giuliani
Rudy Giuliani served as Donald Trump’s lawyer during the 2020 election campaign and is the former mayor of New York City.
He was later included among those hit with state charges for allegedly organising fake electors to cast votes in favour of the then-presidential candidate.
An Arizona grand jury indicted Mr Giuliani, along with seven attorneys and aides affiliated with the campaign and 11 Arizona Republicans.
He was also indicted alongside Mr Trump and other campaign officials in Georgia.
Mr Giuliani was disbarred in New York and DC over his representation of the Trump campaign, and has lost a defamation case against Georgia election workers he accused of trying to steal the election.
His attorney, Ted Goodman, said Mr Giuliani stood by his work.
"Mayor Giuliani never sought a pardon but is deeply grateful for President Trump’s decision," Mr Goodman said.
"This action further highlights the years of unjust attacks against the mayor and so many others."
Sidney Powell
Sidney Powell, a Texas-based attorney, pled guilty in Georgia to six counts of conspiracy to commit intentional interference with the election.
She served as the lead lawyer for Mr Trump’s former national security adviser Michael Flynn.
A 2023 indictment named Ms Powell as a key figure in the conspiracy to illegally access voting machines in Coffee County, Georgia.
It alleged she had hired a forensic data firm "for the performance of computer forensic collections and analytics on election equipment".
According to the indictment, she was named as "special counsel with broad authority to investigate allegations of voter fraud" in Georgia.
A former federal prosecutor, Ms Powell later gave interviews with media claiming election software had been tampered with.
Despite her vocal support and repeated allegations of voter fraud, the Trump campaign distanced itself from her in the aftermath of the election.
In a press conference in 2020 Ms Powell stated, without providing evidence, that electronic voting systems had switched millions of ballots to favour Mr Biden.
Christina Bobb
Christina Bobb is a former news anchor for the right-wing outlet One America News Network.
Before joining the US Department of Homeland Security during the first Trump administration, Ms Bobb served in the US Marine Corps.
She used her time on-air to promote baseless election conspiracy theories and joined Mr Trump’s legal team in their bid to overturn the 2020 election.
In March 2024, the Republican National Committee picked her to lead its election integrity program.
A month later, she was indicted in Arizona for her involvement in the fake electors scheme.
According to an email seen by POLITICO, Ms Bobb emailed Trump aides and allies the night before the election to discuss the plan.
Her email allegedly included updates on all states where fake electors were ready to go and what level of access they had to election facilities.
It also allegedly detailed how many people were on board with the plan in each location.
Kenneth Chesebro
Kenneth Chesebro is a lawyer who pleaded guilty to a felony charge of conspiracy related to the fake electors' scheme.
Earlier this year he was disbarred from practising law in New York and Washington, DC because of his involvement.
In an indictment, Chesebro was described as a lawyer who drafted and implemented "a plan to submit fraudulent slates of presidential electors to obstruct the certification process".
In emails obtained by authorities, he and other lawyers expressed concerns about the legality of the plan.
Memos show Chesebro was among the first to suggest the idea of alternate electors and to highlight January 6, 2020 as a key date.
Asked about his role in the election campaign during a 2022 interview with Talking Points Memo, he said it was "what lawyers do".
"It is the duty of any attorney to leave no stone unturned in examining the legal options that exist in a particular situation," he said.
Jenna Ellis
Jenna Ellis is a former Trump attorney who pleaded guilty to conspiring to overturn the election in Georgia.
In exchange for cooperating with authorities, she avoided a further nine felony charges in Arizona.
She was hired by Mr Trump in 2019 and served as a part of what she called an "elite strike force" legal team during the campaign.
Amid a bevy of online postings on Monday local time calling for the overturn of same-sex marriage, Ellis thanked Mr Trump for the pardon.
"Sunlight is the best disinfectant [and] the full truth will come out," she said.
"I hope that there will be accountability for everyone who actually did wrong in this situation, instead of pursuing people because they were associated with Donald Trump."
Others included on the list were dozens of alleged fake electors in Michigan, Georgia, Wisconsin, Arizona and other states.
There were also multiple individuals accused of intimidating election workers in Georgia — harassing them into falsely stating the election had been stolen.
One of them, Trevian Kutti, is a former publicist for hip-hop artist Kanye West.
In the weeks following the election, Ms Kutti travelled to the home of a Georgia election worker who was facing death threats over false accusations she had helped manipulate votes.
Ms Kutti told the worker she had been sent to help by a "high-profile individual", and told her to confess to voter-fraud or be taken to jail.
Donald Trump not included among those pardoned
The pardon is largely symbolic — presidential pardons only apply to federal crimes, and none of those listed were ever federally charged.
The proclamation also specifically states that the pardon does not apply to the president himself.
Mr Trump was indicted on federal felony charges accusing him of working to overturn his 2020 election defeat, but the case brought by Justice Department special counsel Jack Smith was abandoned in November after Trump's victory over Kamala Harris because of the department's policy against prosecuting sitting presidents.
While the pardons may have no immediate legal impact, experts warned they send a dangerous message for future elections.
"It is a complete abdication of the responsibility of the federal government to ensure we don't have future attempts to overturn elections," said Rick Hasen, a UCLA law professor.
"Ultimately, the message it sends is 'We'll take care of you when the time comes.'"
ABC/AP/Reuters
