Trump pardons Clean Air Act violators: 'I am setting them free'

Swapna Venugopal Ramaswamy, USA TODAYFri, July 3, 2026 at 9:51 PM UTC

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President Donald Trump announced that he was pardoning six people whom he said had been wrongfully “persecuted” by the Biden administration for clean-air-related offences.

In a Truth Social post on July 3, Trump said the people “were in, or being sent to, prison, for ‘fixing their car.’ While I know this sounds ridiculous, it is nevertheless a fact, and part of the Weaponization and Stupidity that our Country had to endure during four long years of Sleepy Joe Biden. I AM SETTING THEM ALL FREE, RIGHT NOW!”

Trump did not name the people he had pardoned. The White House did not immediately respond to USA TODAY seeking names of those pardoned.

Earlier this year, the Justice Department announced that it was no longer pursuing criminal charges under the Clean Air Act based on “allegations of tampering with onboard diagnostic devices in motor vehicles.”

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The Clean Air Act is the federal law that regulates air emissions from stationary and mobile sources and governs air pollution.

During his first term in office, Trump oversaw the rollback of more than 100 environmental rules and regulations. Soon after Trump took office for his second term, the Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Lee Zeldin announced the agency will undertake 31 deregulatory actions.

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This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Trump pardons 6 people who violated air pollution laws

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