President Trump pardoned two Alaska diesel-truck mechanics during a rally Tuesday night, saying they had been “wrongfully charged” under the Biden administration.
Trump signed unconditional pardons for Zachary Czubak and Patrick Fleming midway through a Wasilla rally supporting Republican incumbents Sen. Dan Sullivan and Rep. Nick Begich 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.”
“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 pardon documents to the podium for Trump to sign.
Trump then joked about the meaning of a pardon, saying recipients are considered “as clean as a newborn baby’s ass,” while adding that he was unsure how the expression originated.
The president invited Czubak and Fleming onto the stage to receive the newly signed pardons and speak to the audience.
“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.
READ MORE: Great Wolf Lodge Horror: Mom Accused of Killing Husband, Toddler
Fleming and Czubak pleaded guilty in 2022 to one count each of conspiracy to violate the Clean Air Act.
According to the Biden Justice Department, the men tampered with federally required monitoring devices on private and commercial diesel vehicles and removed mandated pollution-control equipment from at least 37 vehicles between July 2019 and September 2020.
Fleming was ordered to pay a $66,000 fine. Czubak received five years of probation and was also fined $66,000.
“Enjoy your lives, fellas,” Trump said as the two men left the stage, describing the charges as “crazy.”
Trump also cautioned Alaska voters about what he called a “fake Dan Sullivan” appearing on the state’s ballot.
The president claimed 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 other Sullivan’s 2.4% showing in the ranked-choice Senate primary allowed him to advance to the general election and “could be the difference” in November.
Trump also called on Alaskans to repeal the state’s ranked-choice voting system, which he labeled a “scam.”
“It’s a Democrat scam. And you got to repeal it … All it is is a way to cheat,” Trump said.