President Donald Trump signed pardons for two Alaska diesel mechanics onstage at a midterm rally Tuesday night in Wasilla. The men had admitted tampering with federally required emissions controls.
Trump brought Zachary Czubak and Patrick Fleming, co-owners of an Anchorage diesel repair shop, before the crowd. Both pleaded guilty in 2022 to conspiracy to violate the Clean Air Act. “I’m giving each one of the three an unconditional pardon,” Trump told supporters, also referring to his earlier pardon for Mackenzie “Mac” Spurlock, a Wasilla diesel shop owner.
What the Mechanics Admitted
This wasn’t a paperwork dispute. According to the Justice Department under President Joe Biden, Czubak and Fleming were among three co-owners of “Arm Rippin Toys” who admitted removing federally required emissions-control equipment and tampering with monitoring devices on at least 37 diesel vehicles. The work took place between July 2019 and September 2020. Federal prosecutors said the shop collected approximately $100,000 for the modifications.
Those systems serve a purpose. Federal rules require them to keep diesel exhaust from going unchecked into the air people breathe. Removing the equipment and disabling the devices meant to monitor it defeats that protection. The men entered their guilty pleas four years ago; the conduct at the heart of the case dates back six to seven years.
Trump’s Defense of the Men
Trump called the prosecutions unfair. He said the mechanics’ work helped keep trucks running in Alaska’s extreme cold, and argued the Biden-era Justice Department pursued the cases unfairly.
He also took aim at his predecessor. “So I’m going to sign this now, something that Joe Biden would be unable to do because he was unable to sign his signature,” Trump said, criticizing Biden’s use of an autopen. Speaking about the pardon power, he said: “What an honor. I love doing this stuff.”
One of the men thanked Trump from the stage. “It really did destroy us,” he said. “It destroyed friendships. It destroyed families.”
A Pipeline Announcement, Without Details
Trump announced the pardons while highlighting energy investments and infrastructure projects in Alaska. He said a long-awaited 800-mile natural gas pipeline had secured every necessary federal permit. “Every single permit that you need, you can start tonight,” he told the crowd. “Every single permit that you need has been granted.”
No supporting documentation accompanied the claim. Fox News Digital contacted the White House for further details on the project’s federal permitting status.
Why This Matters:
A presidential pardon wipes away the legal consequences of a conviction. Here, it applies to people who admitted disabling pollution controls on dozens of diesel vehicles for profit. Clean Air Act enforcement rests on the principle that the rules apply to everyone, including small businesses with sympathetic stories. When a president announces clemency at a campaign rally and ties it to a political message, it raises fair questions about whether enforcement will hold when it’s inconvenient. Anyone breathing diesel exhaust has a stake in the answer. So do competitors who followed the rules and paid the cost of compliance. The pipeline claim, delivered to a cheering crowd with no documentation yet public, deserves the same scrutiny regulators and nearby communities usually give permitting decisions.