President Trump, at a political rally in the state Tuesday night, pardoned on stage two Alaska auto shop owners who pleaded guilty to violating the Clean Air Act — an unusually public use of the president’s pardon power.
The president said the two men — Zachary Czubak and Patrick Fleming — were “wrongly indicted” and held up the charges against both men as an example of how the Biden-era Justice Department “viciously targeted the way of life of Alaskans.”
Czubak, Fleming and a third man named Michael Hanzuk owned an auto shop specializing in diesel vehicles called Arm Rippin Toys, according to court records. Federal prosecutors say they offered to remove emissions control systems from customers’ vehicles for between $1,140 and $5,445, in part by modifying their physical components and preventing their diagnostic systems from detecting a problem, which would cause the vehicles to emit more pollutants.
All three men pleaded guilty to conspiring to violate the Clean Air Act in 2022. They were each sentenced to five years of probation, a $66,000 fine and community service.
At Tuesday’s midterm campaign rally in Wasilla, Mr. Trump called Czubak and Fleming to the stage and told an aide, “Bring me the pardons!”
“Think about it: They want to put them in prison for 10 years because they fixed an engine. How sick are they?” said the president. “Now, if you murder someone, no problem. Unless a Republican commits the murder. Then, you know, it’s the electric chair, right?”
Mr. Trump signed the pardons at the podium and handed them to Czubak and Fleming, drawing cheers from protesters as the president presented one of the pardons to the crowd.
The president said he was also “taking care” of a third person. He did not name the other person, but Arm Rippin Toys’ third co-owner, Hanzuk, was pardoned last month.
“When you grant a pardon to someone, they say it means, and I don’t know how this works and why it’s a phrase, but it’s used well, it means you’re as clean as a newborn’s ass,” the president said. “I never understood that. Why is it so clean?”
Czubak and Fleming briefly addressed the crowd, with Fleming saying the accusations against the three “really destroyed us.”
“We are not criminals. We are not trying to hurt anyone,” he said. “We want to help Alaskans. We want to help people with diesel trucks, vehicles, around the world.”
CBS News has reached out to attorneys for Czubak, Fleming and Hanzuk for comment.
Earlier this year, Mr. Trump received a pardon to Mac Spurlock, another diesel mechanic who was also accused of violating the Clean Air Act by removing pollution control systems — a case the president mentioned at Tuesday’s rally.
Spurlock and his supporters, including Republican Sen. Dan Sullivan of Alaska, say the engine modifications he made were necessary to prevent emissions systems from malfunctioning due to Alaska’s frigid weather.
Sullivan applauded Spurlock’s pardon in July, calling the charges work from “overzealous federal prosecutors” and arguing that Environmental Protection Agency rules should be changed to account for cold weather states. Tuesday’s rally was held in part to help Sullivan fend off a challenge from Democratic candidate Mary Peltola.
The Justice Department announced in January that it would “no longer bring criminal charges under the Clean Air Act based on allegations of tampering with on-board diagnostic devices.”
Under the Biden administration, officials have taken a different approach, warning in a statement on the Arm Rippin Toys accusations that removing emissions controls “results in a massive increase in air pollution, even from a single vehicle.” Scot Adair, former special agent in charge of the EPA’s Criminal Investigation Division in Alaska, pledged to “hold accountable those who endanger human health and the environment in the interest of profit.”
Mr. Trump and members of his administration rebelled against other environmental regulations, relaxation of fuel economy standards and ending an EPA policy that provided credits to automakers that installed start-stop emissions systems.
The president also frequently used his power of grace to grant clemency to political allies and people who – like him – argue that they have been wrongly prosecuted.
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