Trump pardons 11 people, including several for Clean Air Act violations
By Alayna Treene, Kit Maher, CNN
(CNN) — President Donald Trump pardoned 11 people on Friday, a White House official told CNN, including several individuals who violated the Clean Air Act aimed at cutting down on emissions and improving air quality.
Trump announced earlier Friday that he signed pardons for six people who he argued were “persecuted by the Biden Administration” for violating clean-air and emissions laws.
“It is my Great Honor to have just signed Pardons for six people who were persecuted by the Biden Administration, and were in, or being sent to, prison, for ‘fixing their car.’” Trump posted to Truth Social, adding that he believes they were victims of a weaponized Justice Department. “I AM SETTING THEM ALL FREE, RIGHT NOW!”
The president met with senior officials earlier on Friday to discuss the slate of new pardons, a senior White House official told CNN.
Trump’s Justice Department had ordered federal prosecutors earlier this year to drop criminal investigations and abandon pending cases related to “defeat devices” — software used to bypass emissions controls.
Trump’s post did not identify those he pardoned. The first White House official later sent CNN the names of the 11 total people.
Trump pardoned Joshua Davis, whom the official said was on probation. In 2023, the Environmental Protection Agency announced a settlement collectively with Davis and several Illinois businesses requiring them “to stop manufacturing, selling, offering to sell, and installing devices that bypass, defeat, or render inoperative EPA-approved emission controls and harm air quality, commonly referred to as Aftermarket Defeat Devices.” The defendants were ordered to pay $600,000.
Matt Geouge was pardoned after being sentenced “for conspiracy to violate the Clean Air Act” by selling “defeat devices,” according to a 2022 news release from the United States Attorney’s Office for the Western District of North Carolina. He was also sentenced for tax evasion.
Another pardon was offered to Jonathan Achtemeier, who was sentenced for conspiracy to violate the Clean Air Act and pleaded guilty to tampering “with the monitoring devices on hundreds of vehicles nationwide so those trucks would not detect that their owners removed pollution control hardware systems,” according to a news release from the United States Attorney’s Office in the Western District of Washington.
Tim Clancy, who was sentenced for crimes related to tampering with emissions monitoring devices, according to the US attorney’s office for the District of Oregon, was also pardoned today.
Ryan and Wade Lalone were also pardoned by Trump. According to a news release from the US attorney’s office in western Michigan, the Lalones were each sentenced to one year of probation as part of a case targeting a scheme to disable emissions controls on semi-trucks.
Barry Pierce, Aaron Rudolf, Adam Kidan, Mackenzie Spurlock and Jack Harvard are the names of the other individuals pardoned by Trump today.
The typical jockeying for pardons has ramped up significantly under the Trump administration. The president himself has taken an increasingly personal role in the government’s clemency process, wielding pardons with historic frequency to aid allies and advance his own political grievances, CNN previously reported.
The effort has been managed by a small clutch of senior aides and advisers, including White House special counsel David Warrington, chief of staff Susie Wiles and US Pardon Attorney Ed Martin. Most cases are initially considered by Warrington, in coordination with Martin and the Justice Department, and those parties take their handpicked candidates to Wiles for review, as CNN previously reported.
Warrington and Wiles then bring Trump their pardon picks so he can make a final decision.
This story has been updated with additional details.
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