Trump travels to Alaska for a midterm rally and pardons three people on stage: ‘Worth the 8 hours in the plane’

President Donald Trump flew to Alaska and appeared at a rally in Wasilla on Oct. 13. During the event he called two owners of a local vehicle repair business onto the stage and announced he was granting them pardons on the spot. “I’m giving each one an unconditional pardon. That means you’re as clean as a newborn baby’s a–. I love doing this. This is worth the 8 hours in the plane,” he said. 

The gathering was held to back Republican candidates ahead of the November elections. The three men run Arm Rippin Toys, Inc., based in Anchorage. Federal officials from the Biden-era Justice Department had previously charged the company with Clean Air Act violations.

Czubak and Fleming stood beside Trump as an aide handed over documents for his signature. Trump stated he was extending the same relief to Michael Hanzuk as well.

Anchorage shop owners entered a 2022 plea on emissions equipment charges

According to USA Today, the company pleaded guilty in 2022 to a single count of violating the Clean Air Act. Prosecutors said the owners and their employees had falsified, tampered with, and rendered inaccurate federally required monitoring devices on at least 37 vehicles between July 2019 and September 2020. The shop took in roughly $100,000 for the work on diesel vehicles.

Hanzuk and Czubak were sentenced to five years of probation, community service, and a $66,000 fine. At the rally Trump said the men had been convicted “because they fixed an engine” and that they had faced the possibility of 10 years in prison.

He described his understanding of the case this way: “The concept is that if you allow people to fix the engine, they’re going to take all of the environmental c–p that makes it bad, makes it inefficient, makes it expensive, that they’re going to undo that. And when you undo that, you therefore send fumes into the air.” Trump continued, “Well, I heard about it. I read the story about it and did a little check in, and I’m giving each one of the three an unconditional pardon.”

Zachary Czubak addressed the crowd after the announcement and thanked Trump for clearing their records. He said, “It destroyed friendships. It destroyed families. We’re not criminals. We’re not trying to hurt anybody. We want to help Alaskans. We want to help people with diesel trucks, vehicles across the world.” The rally also comes as analysts weigh Democrats’ odds of sweeping Congress in November. 

Trump also noted that he had issued a separate pardon in July for another Alaskan diesel mechanic involved in a different emissions matter. He charged that the Biden administration had “viciously targeted the Alaskan way of life.”