President Trump announced pardons on Friday for a group of individuals he stated were wrongfully prosecuted for modifying vehicle emissions systems, labeling the federal prosecutions an act of “weaponization and stupidity.”
“I AM SETTING THEM ALL FREE, RIGHT NOW!,” Trump stated in a post on Truth Social.
While the White House did not immediately release the official list of names, defense lawyer Stewart Cables and lobbyist Jeff Daugherty, who represent five of the defendants, identified them as Ryan Lalone, Wade Lalone, Matt Geouge, Tim Clancy, and Mac Spurlock.
A White House official later confirmed those five names to CBS News and stated that five additional individuals had also received pardons. The official identified the remaining five as Joshua Davis, Barry Pierce, Aaron Rudolf, Adam Kidan, and Jack Harvard. The official noted that three of these additional individuals were pardoned for similar pollution violations.
The defendants had been prosecuted for tampering with air pollution control equipment in vehicles, a violation of the Clean Air Act. These modifications involve aftermarket defeat devices, which are used to disable standard emission controls on engines.
“Thanks to God for putting it on Trump’s heart to approve these pardons, and thank God for Donald Trump,” Daugherty told CBS News after being informed of the decision by the White House. He added that Trump “is the only president who would have taken an interest in these parties, and the reason is he’s the only president to face such ferocious weaponization himself.”
The executive clemencies follow a previous action last fall, when Trump granted clemency to Troy Lake, a Wyoming mechanic who served seven months in prison for disabling air pollution-control equipment on diesel engines.
Earlier this year, the Justice Department ordered federal prosecutors to drop all pending prosecutions and investigations into aftermarket defeat devices.
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