Trump Pardons Nikola Founder After $1.8M Campaign Donation, Erasing $680M Restitution
Analysis argues Trump's pardon of Trevor Milton exemplifies how wealth and political loyalty now override jury convictions.
What to know
- Trump pardoned Nikola founder Trevor Milton, erasing a fraud conviction and $680 million in court-ordered restitution to defrauded investors.
- Milton had donated $1.8 million to Trump's campaign in October 2024; Trump also terminated an SEC investigation into him.
- Analysis argues the pardon exemplifies how Trump uses presidential power to overturn jury verdicts based on wealth and political loyalty rather than legal merit.
- Trump characterized Milton's prosecution as persecution for supporting him, contradicting the jury's finding of fraud against investors.
“They say the thing that he did wrong was, he was one of the first people that supported a gentleman named Donald Trump for president. He supported Trump. He liked Trump. I didn't know him, but he liked him. They persecuted him, they destroyed five years of his life.”
Donald Trump, U.S. President · Public Notice ↗ · Aug 13
Donald Trump U.S. President
Trevor Milton Nikola founder, fraud convictLisa Needham Public Notice contributor
How it unfolded parsed yesterday, 5:25 PM
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The Public Notice article was shared on Bluesky by atrupar.com and accumulated 1695 score with 48 comments, amplifying the critique of Trump's pardon strategy.
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Lisa Needham published an article in Public Notice arguing that Trump's pattern of pardons demonstrates contempt for jury verdicts and the justice system, using Milton's case as the central example.
“In Donald Trump's America, if you're rich enough or corrupt enough, jury decisions simply don't matter. Pardons are for sale and used to send a message that juries shouldn't convict people of crimes that the president himself has committed.”
Lisa Needham · Mastodon ↗ -
President Trump issued a pardon for Milton that erased his conviction and the $680 million restitution obligation. Trump also terminated an SEC investigation into Milton.
- 97 weeks quiet
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Milton contributed approximately $1.8 million to Donald Trump's presidential campaign in October 2024.
- 143 weeks quiet
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Trevor Milton was convicted after a nearly month-long trial of defrauding investors in his hydrogen truck company. He was sentenced to four years in prison and ordered to pay $680 million in restitution to investors and $15 million to a wire fraud victim.
The record 3 press and posts · last 24 hours presspostscomments
The conversation 4 comments and posts from 2 sites · verbatim · 52 claimed on the threads
- Yesterday
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New in PN: Trump's war on juries "In Donald Trump’s America, if you’re rich enough or corrupt enough, jury decisions simply don’t matter. Pardons are for sale and used to send a message that juries shouldn’t convict people of crimes that the president himself has committed."