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

On the eve of the U.S. Fourth of July celebrations, Donald Trump issued executive pardons for 11 people, including two convicted fraudsters and nine charged with violating the federal Clean Air Act by disabling or modifying trucks’ emissions controls. The pardons were delivered amid extreme heat across the United States tied to greenhouse gas emissions, and they formed part of a broader wave of clemency from Trump during his second presidency. Among the recipients was Adam Kidan, sentenced in 2006 to nearly six years for a case involving the purchase of a fleet of gambling boats, connected to the broader lobbying scandal involving Jack Abramoff. Another was Jack Harvard, whose legal filings indicate a bank fraud conviction in the 1980s. The Clean Air Act-linked pardons came days after Trump signed an EPA memo asserting people can modify vehicles how they want.