President Trump pardoned two diesel truck mechanics Tuesday night during a rally in Alaska, declaring that the men had been “wrongfully charged” under the Biden administration.
The president signed the pardons for Zachary Czubak and Patrick Fleming in the middle of a midterm election rally in Wasilla held for Sen. Dan Sullivan and Rep. Nick Begich, the Republican incumbents in their respective Senate and House races.
“They wanted to put them in jail for 10 years because they fixed an engine,” Trump told the crowd. “How sick.”
The president said the case had caught his attention after he read about it.
“Well, I heard about it. I read the story about it. Did a little check, and I’m giving each one an unconditional pardon,” he said.
White House aide Natalie Harp brought the pardons to the podium, where the president signed them on the spot.
Trump then offered his own colorful take on what a pardon means.
“I don’t know if you’ve ever heard, when you give somebody a pardon they say that means – and I don’t know how this works and why it’s an expression, but it’s well used – that means you’re as clean as a newborn baby’s ass,” he quipped.
The president invited both men onstage to receive their freshly signed pardons and speak to the crowd.
“This means the world to me. It’s everything,” Fleming said.
“We’re not criminals. We’re not trying to hurt anybody. We want to help Alaskans. We want to help people with diesel trucks, with vehicles, you know, across the world, and President Trump is showing his support in this, and from the bottom of my heart, I can’t thank him enough,” he added.
Fleming and Czubak each pleaded guilty in 2022 to one count of conspiracy to violate the Clean Air Act.
According to the Biden Justice Department, the pair allegedly tampered with federally mandated monitoring devices on private and commercial diesel vehicles and removed required air pollution control equipment from at least 37 vehicles between July 2019 and September 2020.
Fleming was fined $66,000. Czubak was sentenced to five years’ probation and also fined $66,000.
As the two men left the stage, Trump blasted the charges against them as “crazy” and sent them off with a simple message: “Enjoy your lives, fellas.”
The president also used the rally to warn Alaskans about what he described as a “fake Dan Sullivan” on the state’s ballot.
Trump charged that the other Sullivan, a retired teacher, had been “put up by the Democrats.”
“It’s just cheating. It’s terrible … They found a guy named Dan Sullivan and they put him up to get people a little confused,” Trump said.
He noted that the 2.4% the second Sullivan received in the ranked-choice Senate primary, which allowed him to qualify for the general election, “could be the difference” in November.
Trump also urged voters to repeal the state’s ranked-choice voting system, which he called a “scam.”
“It’s a Democrat scam. And you got to repeal it … All it is is a way to cheat,” Trump claimed.
