Money Grab/Pardon donors and drop cases against friends
Trump pardons 9 Clean Air Act violators
On July 3, 2026, Trump pardoned nine people convicted under the Clean Air Act of tampering with vehicle emissions-control equipment, including owners of truck-parts and transportation businesses in Michigan and Georgia. He pardoned donor Adam Kidan the same day and called the group victims of Biden-era weaponization.
What happened
Nine people had been convicted in federal court of removing, or selling devices that bypass, emissions controls on diesel trucks. The Clean Air Act makes both a federal crime. The nine were Joshua Davis, Matt Geouge, Jonathan Achtemeier, Tim Clancy, Ryan and Wade Lalone, Barry Pierce, Aaron Rudolf and Mackenzie Spurlock, among them owners of truck-parts and tuning businesses in Michigan and Georgia.
Geouge had been convicted of selling more than 14,000 defeat devices, and Pierce had pleaded guilty to “deleting” hundreds of trucks through his businesses. In January 2026 the Justice Department announced it would no longer bring criminal cases over defeat devices.
On July 3, 2026, after a White House meeting with members of the group, Trump pardoned all nine. He described them as victims of Biden-era weaponization. The same day he pardoned Adam Kidan, a major Republican donor who pleaded guilty in 2005 to fraud in the Jack Abramoff casino-boat case, and Jack Harvard, another fraud defendant, for 11 pardons in all.
Who benefited
Nine people had their federal convictions erased on July 3, 2026. The diesel-tuning and truck-parts businesses they own benefit too. Adam Kidan, a major Republican donor, was pardoned separately the same day.
Who wanted something
The diesel-tuning industry had lobbied against enforcement and won a January 2026 policy change ending criminal prosecutions. The defendants who met with the White House wanted their own convictions undone. The record does not identify who arranged the meeting, and it does not show donations from any of the nine.
Who lost out
The Clean Air Act’s emissions rules protect public health, and the nine convictions were the government’s enforcement of them. The pardons erased those convictions after the Justice Department had already stopped bringing new cases.
Why it matters
On a single day Trump used clemency for a fraud-convicted donor and for nine industry defendants convicted under environmental law. Together with the Justice Department’s January 2026 decision to stop prosecuting such cases, the pardons signal that this part of the Clean Air Act will not be enforced criminally under this administration.