Trump supporters were accused of organizing fake electors to pressure Vice President Pence and challenge the 2020 election results.
Published November 10, 2025
US President Donald Trump has pardoned supporters and former aides suspected of working to overturn the 2020 election results as he continues to insist that his loss to former President Joe Biden was due to widespread fraud.
The pardons announced late Sunday include Trump’s former personal lawyer Rudy Giuliani and former chief of staff Mark Meadows, as well as dozens of fraudulent voters selected to help Trump maintain power.
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Lawyers John Eastman and Kenneth Chesebro, who Democrats accused of pressuring then-Vice President Mike Pence to refuse to certify the election results, were also pardoned.
The move is largely preemptive because pardonees have not faced federal charges or convictions. Some people were charged at the state level in Arizona and Georgia, where Trump’s pardon does not apply.
Justice Department official Ed Martin shared President Trump’s statement announcing the pardon and suggesting that “the alternate elector and his associates” were politically motivated targets.
“There are many other Americans targeted by Biden, and we are working to help them,” Martin said in a social media post.
The pardon document says Trump’s actions do not apply to the president himself.
In the US system, electors, or members of the Electoral College, cast their votes to determine the winning candidate for each state.
As part of a failed attempt to overturn the 2020 vote, Trump’s allies prepared an alternate slate of electors supporting the Republican candidate.
Several states have filed charges related to “fake elector” schemes.
Trump himself was charged with trying to overturn Biden’s victory. Federal charges against him were dropped after he was re-elected president last year.
The US president continues to face election charges in Georgia, where he was recorded instructing state officials to “get 11,780 votes” to help him win the state.
But the case has been suspended for months after the lead prosecutor was disqualified for having a romantic relationship with one of his former aides, and it’s unclear whether it will resume during Trump’s presidency.
President Trump has denied any wrongdoing regarding his actions after the 2020 election, calling the charges a “witch hunt.”
The president claimed victory during vote counting that year, falsely claiming early on that the election was “rigged.”
His efforts to overturn the vote ended on January 6, 2021, when his supporters ransacked the U.S. Capitol to prevent the certification of Biden’s victory.
Upon returning to the White House on January 20, President Trump granted pardons to participants in the January 6 riot.
