Trump Pardons Alaska Diesel Shop Owners at Rally
Is this a win for working people over bureaucratic overreach or a signal that breaking the law pays off?
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Above: Donald Trump in Alaska on Oct. 13. Image credit: Alex Wong/Getty Images
The Facts
- U.S. President Donald Trump at a rally in Alaska on Tuesday signed pardons for Zachary Czubak and Patrick Fleming, two auto shop owners who had pleaded guilty to violating the Clean Air Act by removing pollution controls from diesel vehicles.
- Czubak and Fleming co-owned the Anchorage shop Arm Rippin Toys with Michael Hanzuk. Prosecutors said that the three tampered with federally mandated emissions monitoring devices and stripped required pollution control equipment from at least 37 vehicles.
- The shop collected roughly $100,000 for the modifications, which took place between July 2019 and September 2020, according to prosecutors. The men were sentenced to five years of probation, $66,000 in fines and 180 days of community service.
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The Spin
Republican narrative
President Trump is once again backing the working man, as these two Alaskans were the victims of typical bureaucratic overreach that makes rural life impossible under a Democratic administration. Wiping those convictions clean puts working people ahead of paper-pushers — exactly the right call.
Democratic narrative
So now it appears that polluting is legal in Trump's America. Clean air laws can't be optional, and what these men did leads to unhealthy air that everyone shares. They pleaded guilty, and these pardons won't make their conduct legal. Unfortunately, the message has been that Trump allies can break the law.
