Trump pardons 11 people on eve of country’s Fourth of July celebrations

President Donald Trump issued 11 pardons on the eve of the Fourth of July, including individuals convicted of fraud and those charged with violating the Clean Air Act. These acts of clemency, characteristic of his second presidency, often favored those he perceived as aligned with him.

Among those pardoned was Adam Kidan, a former business partner of lobbyist Jack Abramoff. Kidan had been sentenced to nearly six years in prison in 2006 for his role in the purchase of gambling boats, an offense linked to a wider investigation into an early 2000s lobbying scandal involving Abramoff and members of the George W. Bush administration. Kidan had also reportedly helped host a fundraiser at Trump's Mar-a-Lago club.

Another recipient, Jack Harvard, convicted of bank fraud in the 1980s, was pardoned based on his "upstanding" post-conviction record and for allowing US and NATO troops to train on his ranch for free. The remaining nine pardons were for individuals facing Clean Air Act violations, which Trump characterized on his Truth Social platform as being imprisoned for "fixing their car."

These pardons occurred as much of the US sweltered under extreme heat, exacerbated by climate change driven by greenhouse gas emissions. Trump had recently signed a memo to the Environmental Protection Agency asserting individuals could modify their vehicles as they pleased, and his administration had previously repealed a scientific finding linking greenhouse gas emissions to human health endangerment and eliminated federal tailpipe emissions standards.

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I AM SETTING THEM ALL FREE, RIGHT NOW!