What the cars needed, July 4 -- The pardons came on the afternoon before Independence Day, bundled with a presidential post on Truth Social that described the recipients as men "persecuted by the Biden Administration" for "fixing their car."

the installation of defeat devices, aftermarket components designed to disable the emissions controls that diesel trucks are required by law to maintain. Nine of the 11 men President Trump pardoned Friday had been convicted of exactly that, removing or defeating pollution control systems on commercial diesel trucks in violation of the Clean Air Act.

The tenth was Mackenzie Spurlock, 31, an Alaska diesel mechanic who collected $30,000 for removing emissions controls from at least 20 vehicles and plea...