Pardons issued to Trump backers from 2020 loss

UNITED States President Donald Trump has pardoned his former personal lawyer Rudy Giuliani, his former chief of staff Mark Meadows, and others accused of backing the Republican's efforts to overturn the 2020 presidential election result, according to a US Justice Department official.

- ASSOCIATED PRESS REPORTERS

Ed Martin, the US government's pardon attorney, posted on social media a signed proclamation of the "full, complete, and unconditional" pardon, which also names conservative lawyers Sidney Powell, who promoted baseless conspiracy theories about a stolen election, and John Eastman, another lawyer who pushed a plan to keep Mr Trump in power.

The proclamation explicitly says the pardon does not apply to Mr Trump. Presidential pardons apply only to federal crimes, and none of the allies was charged in federal cases, but the move underscores Mr Trump's efforts to continue to rewrite the history of the 2020 election he lost to the Democrats' Joe Biden.

It 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 police officers.