In a spectacle that combined presidential authority with campaign-trail theater, President Donald Trump stood before a roaring crowd of supporters in Wasilla, Alaska, and transformed the Article II pardon power into a political stage prop.
Flanked by cameras and cheered on by Alaska’s congressional Republicans, Trump summoned two local diesel mechanics — Zachary Czubak and Patrick Fleming — onstage to hand them unconditional presidential pardons. Their crime? Operating a commercial enterprise that systematically violated the Clean Air Act by stripping mandatory pollution controls from diesel vehicles.
“I’m giving each one of the three an unconditional pardon,” Trump declared. “That means you’re as clean as a newborn baby’s ass.” He assured rallygoers that traveling north to pardon them was “worth the eight hours in a plane.”
The anatomy of an “unconditional” pardon
The men granted clemency onstage were the co-owners of Arm Rippin Toys, an Anchorage-based automotive repair shop.
According to federal court documents and guilty pleas entered in 2022, Czubak, Fleming and their partner, Michael Wayne Hanzuk II, ran an illicit, highly profitable operation between July 2019 and September 2020. The business specialized in “tuning and deleting,” a process that involves disabling onboard diagnostic systems and removing mandatory emissions equipment from diesel engines.
Over 14 months, the trio tampered with at least 37 private and commercial diesel trucks, collecting roughly $100,000 for their services. To keep the altered trucks running without triggering dashboard warning lights or engine shutdowns, they manipulated emissions-monitoring systems.
Trump framed the case as bureaucratic overreach against mechanics who were simply “fixing an engine” in the Alaskan cold. But removing diesel emissions controls increases the release of pollutants associated with serious environmental and health risks.
| Pollutant | Environmental and health risks |
|---|---|
| Nitrogen oxides | Contribute to ground-level smog and respiratory illness |
| Nonmethane hydrocarbons | Include toxic compounds, some of which can cause cancer |
| Carbon monoxide | Reduces oxygen delivery to body tissues, including the heart |
| Particulate matter | Can penetrate deep into the lungs, aggravating asthma and contributing to cardiovascular and respiratory illness |
An EPA estimate found that more than 550,000 diesel pickup trucks nationwide had their emissions controls illegally removed over a decade, producing excess pollution equivalent to that of 9 million additional trucks.
Yet onstage in Wasilla, the enforcement effort became material for political punchlines.
The clemency industrial complex
The spectacle was as much about political transactionalism as populist symbolism. Alaska’s congressional delegation had aggressively lobbied the White House for the pardons, casting the EPA’s criminal enforcement as an assault on Alaskan rugged individualism and the right-to-repair movement.
Trump was quick to connect his executive mercy to partisan loyalty. As he put pen to paper on camera — mocking former President Joe Biden’s signature style in the process — the pardon ceremony became an endorsement rally. Immediately after receiving his pardon, Czubak grabbed the microphone and urged the cheering crowd to reelect the state’s congressional Republicans.
The three partners received pardons:
- Zachary Czubak: Pardoned onstage at the Wasilla rally.
- Patrick Fleming: Pardoned onstage at the Wasilla rally.
- Michael Wayne Hanzuk II: Pardoned earlier, according to a Sept. 3, 2026, court filing.
Hanzuk’s case received little attention during the Tuesday night spectacle. Trump briefly noted that the third partner had already been “taken care of.” Court filings confirm that Hanzuk received a full and unconditional pardon weeks earlier, on Sept. 3, 2026, in United States v. Hanzuk, without the campaign cameras.
A systemic surrender
The Wasilla rally underscored a broader retreat from criminal enforcement against commercial polluters. After years of federal investigations into diesel defeat devices, the Justice Department ordered prosecutors to stop pursuing criminal charges in such cases, shifting enforcement to civil proceedings.
By pardoning shop owners who built a six-figure business around stripping emissions controls, the administration sent a troubling signal about the consequences of violating federal environmental law when politically connected sponsors intervene.
As the crowd filed out of the Wasilla venue into the crisp northern air, the message was difficult to miss: Breaking the law for profit can become an occasion for celebration when presidential clemency doubles as a campaign event.
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