Trump pardons supporters who tried to reverse his 2020 Michigan loss

Craig Mauger, The Detroit News on Nov 10, 2025

By clicking submit, I authorize Arcamax and its affiliates to: (1) use, sell, and share my information for marketing purposes, including cross-context behavioral advertising, as described in our Privacy Policy , (2) add to information that I provide with other information like interests inferred from web page views, or data lawfully obtained from data brokers, such as past purchase or location data, or publicly available data, (3) contact me or enable others to contact me by email or other means with offers for different types of goods and services, and (4) retain my information while I am engaging with marketing messages that I receive and for a reasonable amount of time thereafter. I understand I can opt out at any time through an email that I receive, or by clicking here

LANSING, Mich. — President Donald Trump has pardoned more than 20 people who contributed to the push to overturn his loss in Michigan's 2020 election.

Late Sunday night, Ed Martin, who's working as the Republican president's pardon attorney, posted a list of dozens of names on X with the words, "Important pardon of alternate electors of 2020." The individuals were from multiple battleground states where Trump and allies challenged Democrat Joe Biden's victory in the weeks following the Nov. 3, 2020, election.

The pardons appeared to be symbolic in nature and to represent a signal of support from the White House. The pardons wouldn't affect any state-level charges against the group, like those that have been unsuccessfully pursued by Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel, a Democrat.

Among the people on the list were the 16 Michigan residents who signed a document falsely claiming Trump had won Michigan's 16 electoral votes, Trump associates who helped guide the false electors strategy and lawyers who advanced unproven claims of widespread election fraud.

Trump's personal lawyer in 2020 and the former mayor of New York City, Rudy Giuliani, and fellow lawyer Jenna Ellis received pardons. They came to Michigan in December 2020, testified before a state House committee and urged majority Republicans in the Legislature to intervene in the results of the election.

However, Trump lost Michigan 48%-51% to Biden in 2020. The results were certified by bipartisan canvassing boards in all 83 counties and the Board of State Canvassers.

The president also pardoned campaign advisers, like Mike Roman and Kenneth Chesebro, who helped with the plan to gather and submit false electoral certificates to challenge the election defeat in Congress where the states' electoral voters were counted on Jan. 6, 2021.

The apparent objective of some of the advisers' work was to bolster claims that the November 2020 presidential election was "rigged" and ultimately "void the results favoring" Biden, Chesebro, who helped create the electors plan, wrote in a Jan. 1, 2021, email, previously obtained by The Detroit News, to Boris Epshteyn, a top Trump adviser.

Epshteyn was also on the pardon list. As was lawyer Sidney Powell, who led a failed lawsuit to overturn Michigan's election.

As for the Michigan Trump electors, an Ingham County judge threw out the state-level criminal charges against them in September, ruling that state prosecutors had failed to show they had an intent to commit fraud.

Judge Kristen Simmons said she believed the Republicans were exercising their constitutional rights by seeking a redress of grievances about the election. Nessel's office hasn't announced whether an appeal will come.

--------