Trump Signs Onstage Pardons for Three Alaska Mechanics in Clean Air Act Case

WASILLA, Alaska — President Donald Trump pardoned the three co-owners of an Anchorage diesel repair shop during a midterm rally here on Tuesday. He signed the clemency documents onstage after bringing two of the men before the crowd.

Trump identified Zachary Czubak and Patrick Fleming, then said he was also pardoning the third co-owner, Michael Hanzuk. “I’m giving each one of the three an unconditional pardon,” he told supporters.

The pardons came during a rally held in support of Republican candidates competing in the November elections. Trump also used the event to make announcements about Alaska’s energy future, including a claim that a long-awaited 800-mile natural gas pipeline had secured every necessary federal permit, according to Fox News.

What the 2022 case involved

Czubak, Fleming and Hanzuk pleaded guilty in 2022 to violating the Clean Air Act. The U.S. Attorney’s office said in 2022 that the company’s co-owners and employees “falsified, tampered with and rendered inaccurate” emissions monitoring devices on at least 37 diesel vehicles between July 2019 and September 2020, and that the shop collected about $100,000 for the unlawful work. Hanzuk and Czubak were sentenced to five years of probation, community service and a $66,000 fine, according to USA Today.

What Trump said about the prosecution

Trump said the men had been convicted “because they fixed an engine” and had faced 10 years in prison. He called the Biden-era prosecution unfair and referred to an earlier pardon he granted Mackenzie “Mac” Spurlock, another Alaskan diesel mechanic convicted in a separate emissions case. From the stage, one of the pardoned men thanked the president, saying, “It really did destroy us. It destroyed friendships. It destroyed families.”

Reporting based on coverage by USA Today and Fox News.