President Donald Trump announced executive pardons Friday for more than half a dozen individuals he says were unfairly prosecuted by the Biden administration for circumventing emissions control regulations.
Trump declared his intentions on Truth Social, writing that he was acting against what he called the “Weaponization and Stupidity” of the prior administration, stating, “I AM SETTING THEM ALL FREE, RIGHT NOW!”
Those granted clemency include Joshua Davis, Matt Geouge, Jonathan Achtemeier, Tim Clancy, Ryan and Wade Lalone, Barry Pierce, Aaron Rudolf, and Mackenzie Spurlock.
A White House official confirmed to Fox News Digital that those pardoned had been charged after circumventing emissions control regulations that are no longer in effect.
Trump addressed the matter directly during an Oval Office news conference, explaining his rationale plainly: “It came to my attention because I noticed they were arresting people for fixing their car. We rule by common sense.”
The pardons follow Trump’s broader right-to-repair agenda, which he advanced earlier in the week by signing a presidential memo designed to make vehicle self-repair easier and expand options for aftermarket parts approval.
The clemency also follows the high-profile federal environmental case involving Elite Diesel Service Inc. and its owner, Troy Lake Sr., who received a full and unconditional pardon on November 7, 2025.
According to federal plea agreements, Elite Diesel had instructed employees to disable computerized on-board diagnostic systems on at least 344 heavy-duty commercial trucks between January 2017 and December 2020.
Lake was sentenced on December 5, 2024, to more than a year in federal prison, a $2,500 personal fine, and his company was placed on five years of probation and ordered to pay $37,500 in fines.
The company was also required to contribute $12,500 to a Colorado Department of Public Health and the Environment program designed to repair emissions systems for low-income drivers.
Government prosecutors alleged that Elite Diesel’s co-conspirators, including other diesel truck garages and fleets, hired Lake’s company specifically to manipulate onboard computers so that emission system malfunctions would go undetected.
The EPA’s investigation expanded significantly, ultimately sweeping up eight alleged co-conspirator garages and fleets across seven states, including Kansas, North Dakota, and Oklahoma.
EPA Criminal Investigation Division Special Agent Lance Ehrig accused the defendants of orchestrating a “large-scale conspiracy” that “diminished air quality” across multiple regions.
A study cited by the prosecution claimed the tampered trucks collectively released more than 1,300 tons of excess nitrogen oxides and other pollutants into the surrounding air.
Biden administration officials had defended the prosecutions at the time as essential to protecting public health and maintaining federal Clean Air Act standards.
