President Donald Trump has preemptively pardoned former Michigan Republican Party Co-Chair Meshawn Maddock and 15 other state Republicans for any actions related to the 2020 election and efforts to swing the election in the state to Trump following the voting, according to a Justice Department official.
Ed Martin, who runs the Office of Pardon Attorney for Trump, posted the pardon document on social media platform X early Nov. 10. It did not appear to be dated but was titled, “Granting Pardons for Certain Offenses Related to the 2020 Presidential Election.”
The pardon covers “any conduct relation to the advice, creation, organization, execution, submission, support, voting, activities, participation in, or advocacy for or of any slate or proposed slate of presidential electors.”
Following the 2020 election, which Trump, then president, lost to Democrat Joe Biden in Michigan and nationally, Trump and his supporters raised never-proven claims of fraud and corruption. In Michigan, Maddock and the other Republicans signed a certificate purporting a victory by Trump which was then sent to the National Archives, the process by which proper election certificates are also used to award Electoral College votes to the winner.
The state filed criminal charges against the group but those charges were dismissed in September of this year by a judge who said state prosecutors never proved an intent on the part of the defendants to defraud. Defense lawyers argued the Republicans signed the documents under the advice of Trump campaign officials who were not charged in Michigan as they had been in some other states.
No federal charges were brought against the group, which was referred to at the time as “fake” electors. Presidential pardons only attach to federal prosecution and charges, not those brought by a state, though the document posted on X by Martin said the pardons were “full, complete and unconditional.”
Trump won reelection in 2024 and won in Michigan, as he also had in 2016. By pardoning the group, and others involved in the efforts to reverse the 2020 election outcome, Trump removes a potential legal cloud over their head.
Several dozen people were listed in the pardon, including former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani, Sidney Powell, Kenneth Chesebro and John Eastman, lawyers who worked on Trump’s behalf in challenging the 2020 election results.
The Michigan group included Maddock, who is the wife of state Rep. Matt Maddock, R-Milford, as well as National Committeewoman Kathy Berden, Mayra Rodriguez, Timothy King, John Haggard, Shelby Township Clerk Stanley Grot, William “Hank” Choate, Amy Facchinello, Clifford Frost, Mari-Ann Henry, Michele Lundgren, James Renner, Ken Thompson, Rose Rook, Marian Sheridan and Wyoming Mayor Kent Vanderwood. Renner initially faced state charges along with the rest, but those charges were dismissed after he agreed to testify, saying he didn’t believe he was doing anything wrong when he signed the documents. Haggard, an activist from Charlevoix, died shortly after the state charges were dropped.
Contact Todd Spangler: tspangler@freepress.com. Follow him on Twitter@tsspangler. Staff writers Arpan Lobo, Paul Egan and Clara Hendrickson contributed to this story.
This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Trump preemptively pardons Michigan’s so-called fake 2020 electors
