Five New Mexicans who signed false elector certificates in 2020 were not included in President Donald Trump’s weekend pardons for election schemes — because unlike false electors in other states, they were never charged with federal crimes.
Trump on Monday pardoned 77 people involved in attempting to overturn the 2020 election, including false electors from seven states, according to his Pardon Attorney Ed Martin. The pardons also covered Santa Fe resident John Eastman, a key architect of the legal strategy to keep Trump in power despite his election loss to Joe Biden.
As reported in the New Mexico Political Report in January 2024, Attorney General Raúl Torrez announced that New Mexico’s five Republican false electors—Anissa Ford-Tinnon, Deborah Maestas, Jewll Powdrell, Rosie Tripp and Guadalupe Garcia—did not break any state laws under existing statutes. Torrez referred the matter to federal authorities, but no federal charges followed.
The distinction matters because Trump’s pardon power only extends to federal crimes. State prosecutors in Georgia, Michigan, Nevada and Pennsylvania charged false electors in their states with state crimes, while federal prosecutors in Washington, D.C., pursued some cases as federal offenses.
New Mexico’s false electors signed certificates on Dec. 14, 2020, claiming Trump won the state’s five electoral votes. Biden actually won New Mexico by nearly 11 percentage points. Trump supporters stormed the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021 to stop the counting of legitimate elector votes.
Unlike false elector certificates in other states, New Mexico’s included language stating the votes would only take effect “if it might later be determined that we are the duly elected and qualified electors.” Torrez said this conditional language, combined with gaps in state election law, prevented prosecution.
Eastman, who has lived in Santa Fe since 2018, was charged in Georgia’s state case against Trump and 18 others. The case remains active, though Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis was disqualified in December 2024, and a new prosecutor must be assigned by Nov. 14, 2025.
Eastman’s California law license has been on “involuntary inactive” status since March 2024, when a judge recommended his disbarment. The California State Bar Court’s Review Department affirmed that recommendation in June 2025, and the case is now pending final review by the California Supreme Court.