US President Donald Trump pardoned several of his allies involved in the efforts to overturn his 2020 election loss, including Trump's former attorney Rudy Giuliani, a justice department official said.

Giuliani, a former New York City mayor, was a vocal supporter of Trump's claims about the 2020 US elections being fraudulent, claims found unfounded by courts across the US. He also lost a $148 million (€128 million) defamation lawsuit brought by two former election workers from the state of Georgia whose lives were affected by the conspiracies pushed by Giuliani.

Other former Trump aides being pardoned are also the US leader's former chief of staff Mark Meadows, as well as Sidney Powell, an attorney who promoted conspiracies about the elections being "stolen."

John Eastman, a lawyer who pushed a plan to keep Trump in power despite the election result, was also included in the list of pardons.

Trump not included in pardon

Republicans who acted as fake electors for Trump in 2020 were also pardoned. They were charged in state cases for submitting false certificates confirming their legitimacy as electors even though Joe Biden won those states.

Ed Martin, the Trump administration's pardon attorney, posted a "signed, complete and unconditional" pardon for the Trump aides, while also mentioning the pardon does not apply to the US president himself.

The proclamation described the Trump supporters' prosecution as "a grave national injustice perpetrated on the American people," with the pardons meant to support the process of "national reconciliation."

Although none of the named Trump allies were charged with federal crimes related to the 2020 election, to which pardons only apply, the move emphasizes the former president's efforts to label his 2020 election loss as a "stolen result."

Trump previously pardoned hundreds of his supporters accused of their involvement in the January 6 riot at the US Capitol, as well as those already convicted of attacking police or other law enforcement officers.

Edited by: Dmytro Hubenko