Trump Pardons a Big Donor and People Who Broke Clean Air Rules

President Donald Trump pardoned 11 people on Friday, meaning he officially forgave their crimes and freed them from punishment. Most of those pardoned had been convicted of breaking the Clean Air Act, a major federal law designed to reduce air pollution. One of the others was a wealthy Republican donor who had been found guilty of fraud more than a decade ago. The pardons were announced by a White House official and quickly drew attention across the country.

Several of the people Trump pardoned had been convicted of tampering with emissions control equipment in cars and trucks. Emissions controls are devices that limit the amount of harmful gases a vehicle sends into the air. Some of the pardoned individuals had also sold illegal parts that allowed drivers to bypass those controls. Trump argued on his social media site Truth Social that these people had simply been 'fixing their car' and were treated unfairly by the previous administration.

The Clean Air Act is a landmark law that was first passed in 1963. It sets rules for how much air pollution businesses, factories, and vehicles are allowed to produce. Breaking this law is a federal crime, which means the U.S. government — not just a state — is in charge of prosecuting those cases. Trump has often pushed to reduce environmental regulations during his time in office, and his administration recently lost a major court case over air pollution standards set during President Biden's time in office.

Trump also pardoned Adam Kidan, a businessman who has donated nearly $4 million to Republican campaigns and groups since 2017. Kidan pleaded guilty in 2005 to wire fraud and mail fraud related to a scheme involving cruise ships used for offshore gambling. He was sentenced to nearly six years in prison but was released in 2009. Kidan was also a business partner of Jack Abramoff, a lobbyist who was at the center of a huge corruption scandal in Washington in the 2000s.

Another person pardoned was Jack Harvard, a former mayor of Plano, Texas, who was convicted of bank fraud in the 1990s. The White House said Harvard had changed his life after his conviction by caring for endangered animals on his ranch and letting U.S. and NATO military troops train on his land for free. Trump's team used Harvard's story as an example of someone who deserved a second chance. Harvard's pardon was one of the less controversial ones in the group.

A presidential pardon is a powerful tool that wipes away a person's federal conviction and ends any remaining punishment. The U.S. Constitution gives the president this power, but it is meant to be used carefully. Normally, employees at the Justice Department review thousands of pardon requests and only recommend people who have finished their sentences and shown remorse, meaning they are sorry for what they did. Trump has not followed that traditional process, sometimes granting pardons to people who had not yet started their sentences or admitted wrongdoing.

Trump's pardons have covered a wide range of people during his second term. On the day he was sworn in for a second time, he pardoned more than 1,500 people connected to the January 6, 2021, riot at the U.S. Capitol, including some who had attacked police officers. He has also pardoned politicians from both parties and people convicted of serious drug crimes. Legal experts told The Washington Post that Trump's use of pardons goes against the usual norms, or accepted ways of doing things.

Every recent president has used the pardon power, but Trump has used it far more broadly than most. During his first term, Trump issued 238 total acts of clemency. President Biden issued 4,245 pardons and commutations by the end of his term — more than any other president in U.S. history. A commutation reduces a person's sentence but does not erase the conviction, making it different from a full pardon.