President Donald Trump announced Friday that he had granted full executive pardons to six people previously prosecuted for disabling diesel emissions systems on heavy duty trucks, as first detailed by Fox News. He characterized the prosecutions as part of the “Weaponization and Stupidity” of the prior administration. In a Truth Social post, he wrote, “I am setting them all free, right now.”
During an Oval Office news conference, Trump said the issue came to his attention after he noticed officials were arresting people for fixing their own vehicles, citing the case of Wyoming diesel mechanic Troy Lake Sr. He added that his administration operates on “common sense” rather than strict enforcement. The prosecutions, he argued, reflected a fundamental misunderstanding of ordinary vehicle repair work.
Lake received a full and unconditional pardon on November 7, 2025, wiping away his conviction in the case United States v. Elite Diesel Service, Inc. et al. He had been sentenced on December 5, 2024, to more than a year in prison and a $2,500 fine, and he later said his prison work involved repairing the same type of diagnostic systems tied to his conviction for about 40 cents an hour. His company, Elite Diesel Service Inc., was also placed on five years of probation, fined $37,500, and ordered to pay $12,500 into a Colorado program that repairs emissions systems for low income drivers.
The case against Lake centered on hundreds of altered trucks
Prosecutors said Lake’s company had instructed employees to disable computerized on board diagnostic systems on at least 344 heavy duty commercial trucks between January 2017 and December 2020. Those diagnostic systems are required under the Clean Air Act to continuously monitor emissions control technology. Government attorneys also argued that Elite Diesel worked with other garages and fleets across states including Kansas, Oklahoma and North Dakota to keep the malfunctions hidden from regulators.
The EPA’s criminal investigation division treated the case as significant. Special agent Lance Ehrig accused the defendants of running what he called a large scale conspiracy that reduced air quality in the affected region. Prosecutors cited a study claiming the altered trucks released more than 1,300 tons of excess nitrogen oxides and other pollutants, and officials under the Biden administration defended the charges at the time as necessary to protect public health.
The pardons align with a broader push by Trump to expand right to repair protections for vehicle owners. Earlier in the week, he signed a presidential memo intended to make self repair easier by protecting personal repair rights and expanding access to aftermarket parts. Regulatory authority over private property remains a live issue elsewhere too, as seen in a Georgia man’s zoning dispute over a treehouse built on family land.
Senator Cynthia Lummis of Wyoming has criticized what she describes as EPA overreach in cases like Lake’s. A bill known as the Diesel Truck Liberation Act of 2025 is currently under consideration, and it would bar federal law, including Clean Air Act regulations, from requiring manufacturers or distributors to install or maintain emissions control devices or diagnostic systems. The bill would also shield people from civil or criminal liability tied to using or modifying a vehicle without those systems, and if passed, it would vacate existing penalties and expunge related records.
The broader effort to loosen federal enforcement comes amid other unrelated disputes over local fees and violations, including a disputed hotel violation fee that drew wide attention online this week. Such cases have kept scrutiny of enforcement practices, both federal and local, in the public conversation.
As of Friday, the Justice Department’s Office of the Pardon Attorney website had not been updated to reflect the six new pardons.
Published: Jul 4, 2026 08:00 am