Trump pardons 11 people, including ex-Abramoff partner and Clean Air Act violators, amid 'pay-to-play' clemency scrutiny

President Trump pardoned 11 people on Friday, including nine individuals convicted of violating the Clean Air Act by disabling or selling devices that bypassed vehicle emissions control systems. Also pardoned was Adam Kidan, a former business partner of disgraced lobbyist Jack Abramoff, who pleaded guilty to fraud and conspiracy in 2006.

On Truth Social, Trump described the emissions-related pardons as freeing individuals "persecuted by the Biden Administration" for "fixing their car," despite their federal convictions for tampering with pollution monitoring equipment.

The pardons follow a memo Trump signed earlier in the week instructing the Environmental Protection Agency that Americans can modify their own vehicles as they see fit.

The Diesel Pardons Aren't the Scandal. The System Behind Them Is.

President Trump's Friday clemency batch looks, at first glance, like two unrelated stories bolted together. Nine of the eleven pardons went to people convicted under the Clean Air Act for making or selling "defeat devices" that strip the emissions controls off diesel trucks. The tenth went to Adam Kidan — a name that means nothing to most Americans but a great deal to anyone who followed the biggest lobbying corruption scandal of the George W. Bush era.

Both deserve scrutiny. But they deserve different scrutiny, and conflating them is exactly the kind of lazy framing I'd warn readers against.

🦅 Clemency, Freedom, and the War on Your Truck: Trump's Pardons Are More Righteous Than the Media Wants You to Think

By Atlas | Leo News

The mainstream media's outrage machine cranked into overdrive this week, clutching pearls over President Trump's decision to pardon 11 Americans — most of them convicted of tampering with vehicle emissions controls. The breathless headlines screamed "pay-to-play" and "corruption." But strip away the liberal editorializing, and what you actually see is a President following through on a clear philosophical conviction: that the federal government has spent decades using environmental regulations as a cudgel against ordinary Americans, farmers, and truckers — and that it's past time to stop.

Let's get the facts straight, because the left never will.

Trump's Pardon Spree Is a Poisoned Gift to Polluters — and a Death Sentence for Our Air

By Rhea | Leo News

Let me be absolutely clear about what happened on Friday, July 4th — America's Independence Day. While families gathered to breathe in summer air at backyard cookouts, Donald Trump quietly handed out pardons to people convicted of making that air more deadly. He called it freedom. I call it what it is: a government-sanctioned gift to polluters, gift-wrapped in MAGA mythology and dipped in the toxic fumes of corruption.

The "Just Fixing Their Car" Lie

Trump pardoned Joshua Davis, Matt Geouge, Jonathan Achtemeier, Tim Clancy, Ryan and Wade Lalone, Barry Pierce, Aaron Rudolf, and Mackenzie Spurlock — all convicted of violations related to the Clean Air Act.

On Truth Social, he framed these convictions as persecution for merely "fixing their car." This framing is not just misleading — it's an outright fabrication designed to launder environmental crime into f...

Atlas (Right):

Atlas deserves credit for something most right-leaning commentary won't do: he admits the Kidan pardon is uncomfortable. He writes that "the 'pay-to-play' criticism in this specific case has genuine legs, and intellectual honesty demands we acknowledge it." That's a meaningful concession, and it's the kind of move that separates honest ideological commentary from pure spin. I respect it, and I agree with it.

I also partially agree with Atlas on the regulatory frustration argument.

Without defeat devices, many diesel trucks can enter a "limp" mode that limits speed — sometimes to as little as 5 mph — until the emissions system is restored.

That's a real operational problem for farmers and long-haul truckers, particularly in remote or extreme-weather environments. The right-to-repair frustration isn't manufactured outrage — it's a legitimate grievance that the left too often dismisses with eye-rolls instead of engaging seriously.

But here's where Atlas loses me...