President Donald Trump on Friday pardoned 11 people, including nine convicted of violating the Clean Air Act and a former business partner of disgraced lobbyist Jack Abramoff. The pardons highlight a pattern in which the justice system treats the wealthy and well-connected very differently from everyone else.
Trump announced the pardons on his Truth Social platform before the White House released the formal list. “It is my Great Honor to have just signed Pardons for six people who were persecuted by the Biden Administration, and were in, or being sent to, prison, for ‘fixing their car,'” he wrote. “I AM SETTING THEM ALL FREE, RIGHT NOW!”
In fact, the nine people convicted under the Clean Air Act had been involved in disabling emissions monitoring systems on vehicles or selling devices that bypassed emissions controls. They were not simply “fixing their car.” They were running businesses that profited from helping others pollute, and the courts found them guilty.
Trump has been laying the groundwork for these pardons for months. On Monday, he signed a memo telling the Environmental Protection Agency that Americans can fix their own vehicles as they see fit, a sweeping statement that effectively encourages the bypassing of emissions controls. The memo also targets the California Air Resources Board’s ability to evaluate aftermarket auto parts.
The White House described the pardons as having “relieved consumers from these regulatory burdens.” An alternative description: the president used his constitutional power to override court decisions that held people accountable for actions that harmed public health.
Beyond the emissions cases, Trump also pardoned Adam Kidan, a former business partner of Jack Abramoff, the lobbyist whose 2000s-era corruption scandal became a symbol of Washington’s pay-to-play culture. Kidan pleaded guilty in 2005 to fraud and conspiracy related to the purchase of a fleet of gambling boats and served nearly six years in prison. After his release, he founded a staffing business and, according to press reports, was among the hosts of a fundraiser at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort for a Long Island Republican congressional candidate. The connection between campaign fundraising and presidential pardons is not a new pattern in this administration.
Trump also pardoned Jack Harvard, a ranch owner whose conviction was not detailed by the White House, which cited his “upstanding record” post-conviction and noted that he allowed the US military and NATO troops to train on his land for free.
The timing of the pardons matters. They came on the eve of the July Fourth weekend, when public attention is elsewhere. They also follow a pattern established in Trump’s first term, when he used pardons to reward political allies, public figures aligned with his movement, and individuals whose cases served a political narrative about government overreach.
The Clean Air Act violators fit the last category. They are part of Trump’s broader war on environmental regulation, which he frames as bureaucratic oppression of honest Americans. The reality is more mundane: they broke the law, were convicted by juries, and were pardoned by a president who has made clear that environmental laws are not a priority.
The Abramoff associate fits a different category: the personal connection. Kidan helped raise money for Trump. He got a pardon. The causal link is not provable in a single case, but the pattern across dozens of Trump pardons is unmistakable.
For most Americans, a conviction for fraud or environmental crime means a prison sentence and a permanent record. For those with the right connections, it means a phone call from the White House.