President Trump on Friday issued pardons to 11 men, two of them convicted fraudsters and nine charged with violating the Clean Air Act by disabling or modifying diesel truck emissions controls, and posted on Truth Social, "I AM SETTING THEM ALL FREE, RIGHT NOW!" He also said they had been wrongfully prosecuted for "fixing their car."
At an Oval Office news conference, Trump said "it came to my attention because I noticed they were arresting people for fixing their car" and added, "We rule by common sense."
A White House official provided a list of the 11 people who received clemency, naming Joshua Davis, Matt Geouge, Jonathan Achtemeier, Tim Clancy, Ryan and Wade Lalone, Barry Pierce, Aaron Rudolf and Mackenzie Spurlock, and also identifying Adam Kidan and Jack Harvard among the recipients.
Kidan, a former business partner of lobbyist Jack Abramoff, has been described as the president of a light industrial staffing company and was sentenced in 2006 in connection with the purchase of a fleet of gambling boats; he was jailed in 2006 with Abramoff after pleading guilty to fraud and conspiracy related to that purchase and was released in 2009. Harvard, legal filings show, was convicted of bank fraud charges in the 1980s, and Trump cited Harvard’s "upstanding" post-conviction record and his allowing U.S. and NATO troops to train on his ranch for free.
Federal records and plea agreements show eight of the men were diesel mechanics or car tuners prosecuted for selling and installing so-called defeat devices that reprogram trucks to bypass federally required emissions controls, suppress diagnostic warnings and in some cases put trucks into a "limp" mode that limits speed to as little as 5 mph until systems are restored. Matthew Geouge’s December 2021 plea agreement shows his firms grossed more than $10 million from the sale of illegal tuning devices.
One recipient, Mackenzie "Mac" Spurlock, was an Alaska mechanic whose shop, Matanuska Diesel, was the subject of what Sen. Dan Sullivan called a "military-style tactical raid" by about 30 armed EPA agents; Sullivan said in a statement that Spurlock’s shop modified emissions-control systems so vehicles would not shut down in Alaska’s subzero conditions.
The clemency follows earlier executive action in a related case: the White House said Troy Lake Sr. received a full and unconditional pardon on Nov. 7, 2025, wiping away his conviction in United States v. Elite Diesel Service, Inc. et al. According to federal plea agreements, Elite Diesel instructed employees to disable on-board diagnostic systems on at least 344 heavy-duty commercial trucks between Jan. 2017 and Dec. 2020. Lake was sentenced on Dec. 5, 2024 to more than a year in prison and a $2,500 fine; the company was placed on probation for five years, ordered to pay a $37,500 fine and required to make a $12,500 payment to a Colorado Department of Public Health and the Environment program to repair emissions systems for low-income drivers. The U.S. Attorney's Office said prosecutors argued co-conspirators hired Elite Diesel to manipulate computers so malfunctions would go undetected, and an investigation swept up eight alleged co-conspirator garages and fleets across seven states. EPA Criminal Investigation Division Special Agent Lance Ehrig called the defendants a "large-scale conspiracy" that "diminished air quality," and a study cited by prosecutors said the tampered trucks released more than 1,300 tons of excess nitrogen oxides and other pollutants.
The White House said the pardons fit with the administration's right-to-repair push, and the president signed a presidential memo earlier in the week aimed at making it easier for Americans to repair their own vehicles by protecting self-repair rights and opening options for aftermarket parts. The administration in February repealed a scientific finding that greenhouse gas emissions endanger human health and eliminated federal tailpipe emissions standards for cars and trucks, and earlier this year the Justice Department ordered prosecutors to drop all pending prosecutions and investigations related to aftermarket defeat devices; a White House official said the people charged had been prosecuted after circumventing emissions-control regulations that are no longer in effect.
The pardons were issued as the nation marked its 250th anniversary and came amid extreme heat across much of the country; organizers canceled a planned Independence Day parade tied to the administration's Freedom 250 initiative late on the eve of the event, citing an extreme heat warning, and the Freedom 250 Great American State Fair on the National Mall temporarily closed after more than 40 visitors were treated for heat-related illness.
Trump has also discussed potential clemency for Sean "Diddy" Combs.