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President Donald Trump on Friday announced a blanket pardon for six people he said were “persecuted” by the Biden administration for simply “fixing their car.”
In a tweet on Truth Social on Friday afternoon, the president took aim at federal prosecutions he described as part of the former administration’s “Weapons and Stupidity,” saying, “I RELEASE THEM ALL, NOW!”
The pardon is in line with Trump’s broader push to protect the “right to amend.”
Earlier in the week, he signed a presidential memo designed to make it easier for Americans to fix their cars by protecting repair rights and opening up aftermarket parts options.
FILE – President Donald Trump earlier signed a presidential memo to make it easier for Americans to fix their cars by protecting the right to repair cars and opening up other ways to approve aftermarket parts. (Shawn Thew/EPA/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
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“It came to me because I saw that they were arresting people for fixing their cars,” Trump said during a press conference in the Oval Office. “We rule with common sense.”
The high mercy appears to be connected to a federal environmental lawsuit involving Elite Diesel Service Inc. and its owner, Troy Lake Sr.
Lake received a full and unconditional pardon on Nov. 7, 2025, overturning his conviction in United States v. Elite Diesel Service, Inc. et al.
FILE – Sen. Cynthia Lummis, R-Wyo., joined Fox News 2025 to discuss the “EPA” of the Biden administration in the case of Troy Lake, a diesel mechanic who was prosecuted for violating the Clean Air Act. (Cynthia Lummis)
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According to federal plea agreements, Elite Diesel ordered workers to disable computerized diagnostic systems on at least 344 heavy-duty trucks between January 2017 and December 2020.
Diagnostic programs are mandated by the state under the Clean Air Act to monitor pollution control programs.
Lake was sentenced on December 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 the Colorado Department of Public Health and the Environment program designed to fix low-income drivers’ emissions systems.
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Federal prosecutors also alleged that partners with Elite Diesel, other diesel truck and fleet garages, hired a Lake company to manipulate computers so that malfunctions in the exhaust system would not be detected, according to a statement from the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Colorado.
The EPA’s ongoing investigation ultimately involved eight garages and fleets in seven states, including Kansas, North Dakota and Oklahoma.
Businesses are ordered to pay large fines and fund local community service projects, such as buying clean school buses or electric appliances to eliminate environmental impacts, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office.
FILE – The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) accused the defendants of lowering air quality. (REUTERS/Andrew Kelly/File Photo)
At the time, Biden administration officials defended criminal prosecutions as essential to public health.
EPA Criminal Investigation Division Special Agent Lance Ehrig accused the defendants of leading a “vast conspiracy” that “degraded air quality.”
A study cited by the prosecutor states that the affected trucks released more than 1,300 tons of excess nitrogen oxides and other pollutants into the air.
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The website of the Department of Justice’s Office of the Pardon Attorney has not been updated to include the list of people pardoned by the president on Friday.
The White House did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital’s request for comment.
