Trump pardons 11, most convicted of Clean Air Act violations
President Trump signed 11 pardons on Friday, the day before the July 4 holiday. Nine of the recipients had been convicted in cases tied to the federal Clean Air Act — for tampering with the emissions-control systems on diesel trucks or selling aftermarket “delete” parts that disable those controls. In a social-media post, Trump described the recipients as people “persecuted by the Biden Administration” and imprisoned for “fixing their car.”
The remaining two pardons went to Adam Kidan, a former business partner of lobbyist Jack Abramoff, and Jack Harvard, a former mayor of Plano, Texas, convicted of bank fraud in the 1990s.
The clemency batch signals continued executive skepticism toward the previous administration’s diesel-emissions enforcement, which had produced criminal cases against tuners and parts sellers. Pardons erase the individual convictions but do not alter the underlying Clean Air Act standards, which remain enforceable by the EPA and the Justice Department.