President Donald Trump has pardoned his former personal lawyer Rudy Giuliani, his onetime chief of staff Mark Meadows and others accused of backing the Republican’s efforts to overturn the 2020 election.
The “full, complete, and unconditional” pardon for dozens of Trump allies are largely symbolic. It applies only to federal crimes, and none of the people named in the proclamation were ever charged federally over the bid to subvert the election won by Democrat Joe Biden. It doesn’t affect state charges, though state prosecutions stemming from the 2020 election have hit a dead end or are just limping along.
The move, however, underscores Trump’s continued efforts to promote the idea that the 2020 election was stolen from him even though courts around the country and Trump’s own attorney general at the time found no evidence of fraud that could have affected the outcome. Reviews, recounts and audits of the election in the battleground states where Trump contested his loss also affirmed Biden’s victory.
Trump’s recent action follows the sweeping pardons of the hundreds of Trump supporters charged in the Jan. 6, 2021, riot at the U.S. Capitol, including those convicted of attacking law enforcement.
”Here are more headlines from the Trump administration on Monday:
Ballots: The Supreme Court on Monday agreed to decide whether states can continue to count late-arriving mail ballots, which have been a target of Trump. The justices took up an appeal from Mississippi after a panel of three judges nominated by the Republican president on the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled last year that the state law allowing ballots that arrive shortly after Election Day to be counted violated federal law.
Flights: Trump pressured controllers Monday on social media to “get back to work, NOW!!!” He said he wants a $10,000 bonus for controllers who’ve stayed on the job and to dock the pay of those who didn’t. The head of the controllers union said they’re being used as a “political pawn” in the fight over the shutdown. The Federal Aviation Administration warned Monday that controller shortages at more than a dozen towers and control centers could cause disruptions in cities including Philadelphia, Nashville and Atlanta.
Drug war: Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth on Monday announced the latest in a series of strikes on boats accused of ferrying drugs, killing six people in attacks on two vessels in the eastern Pacific Ocean. The dual strikes on Sunday bring the total number of known attacks up to 19 and the death toll to at least 75 people since the Trump administration launched a campaign against drug trafficking in South American waters that many see as a pressure tactic on Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro.
– From wire reports
