Trump Pardons Six in Car-Repair Case, Says ‘I AM SETTING THEM ALL FREE!’
President Trump on Friday afternoon pardoned six people he said were punished by the Biden administration for working on their own cars. The move landed fast and loud, with Trump framing it as a straight-up correction to what he called nonsense from the last administration.
Trump said the people were sent to prison for “fixing their car.” In his post, he did not soften the message or dance around it. He went right at the issue and made clear he saw the case as another example of government going too far.
“It is my Great Honor to have just signed Pardons for six people who were persecuted by the Biden Administration, and were in, or being sent to, prison, for ‘fixing their car,’” Trump announced on social media.
He followed that with an even harder shot at the Biden years. “While I know this sounds ridiculous, it is nevertheless a fact, and part of the Weaponization and Stupidity that our Country had to endure during four long years of Sleepy Joe Biden,” Trump said.
Then came the blunt finish. “I AM SETTING THEM ALL FREE, RIGHT NOW! President DONALD J. TRUMP”
The pardon came just days after Trump signed an executive order backing Americans’ right to fix their own vehicles. That order said his administration had already moved to cut back what it called burdensome environmental rules that pushed car costs higher.
According to the order, “During the previous administration, crushing environmental regulatory burdens caused the average cost of vehicles to soar. My Administration has therefore taken historic action to reduce or remove these burdensome regulations and decrease the rising costs that consumers face. With the largest deregulatory action in United States history, my Administration rescinded regulations concerning greenhouse gas emissions for light-, medium-, and heavy-duty vehicles, and affirmed the right to fix agricultural and non-road equipment,”
The order also said, “The Administrator of the EPA shall consider deprioritizing civil tampering enforcement actions against anyone who, in good faith, attempts to fix his or her own vehicle to its original configuration,”
Trump has been pushing the same theme in plain language: people should be able to work on their own cars without getting crushed by government rules. “It’s really common sense,” he said.
The clip of Trump making that point circulated on X as the pardon news spread:
https://x.com/WarMachineRR/status/2071681011381879178?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
The broader message was hard to miss. Trump is presenting this as a fight over basic freedom, lower costs, and less bureaucratic meddling. For supporters, it fits the larger promise of rolling back the kind of rulebook that makes everyday life more expensive and more difficult. For critics, it will almost certainly spark another argument over how far the president should go in using pardons to send a message. Either way, the move puts the issue front and center: who gets to decide what Americans can do with their own property.