by Brian Shilhavy, Health Impact News:
With so much “headline-worthy” news this past week, a story that barely was mentioned in the media on Friday, was the news that Trump pardoned a bunch of convicted criminals.
These were mainly Big Tech investors, including the Mormon billionaire, Trevor Milton, founder of Nikola Motors, an EV start-up company that was making cyber trucks, and at one time had a valuation higher than Ford Motors.
The founder and former CEO of bankrupt EV startup Nikola Motors has been pardoned by President Donald Trump.
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Trevor Milton was sentenced to four years in prison in 2023 for fraud after misleading investors about Nikola’s hydrogen and electric trucks. He had been free pending appeal of his conviction.
Milton founded Nikola in 2014 and oversaw the company’s rapid rise. At one point, the truckmaker was worth more than Ford.
However, he stepped down in 2020 after a damning report from short-seller Hindenburg Research alleged that Nikola had exaggerated the capabilities of its trucks and faked publicity videos — including by rolling a truck down a hill to make it look like it was driving.
A BI investigation previously found the Milton had a history of bending the truth, falsely stating the Nikola One zero-emissions truck showcased at a splashy unveiling in 2016 was fully functional.
Despite recovering somewhat after Milton’s departure, Nikola ultimately filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy last month after facing a cash crunch. (Source.)
The White House did not provide any notices of Friday’s pardons, but did confirm them when asked. Milton thanked Trump for the pardon, and reporters asked Trump why he pardoned Milton. He replied that it was “highly recommended by many people.”
He also claimed that the conviction was “politically motivated” because Milton supported him.
When asked why he issued the pardon, Mr. Trump said on Friday that Mr. Milton had been “highly recommended” by many people and suggested that his prosecution had been political.
“They say the thing that he did wrong was he was one of the first people that supported a gentleman named Donald Trump for a president,” Mr. Trump said in the Oval Office. “He supported Trump. He liked Trump.”
“I had these fantastic recommendations about him from people that you know very well, all top-of-the-line people,” Mr. Trump said. “They thought it was a horrible thing.” (Source.)
Milton and his wife reportedly contributed $1.8 million to Trump’s campaign, as well as $750,000 to Robert F. Kennedy Jr., and his MAHA Alliance, a political action committee that tried to persuade supporters of Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to back Mr. Trump after Mr. Kennedy dropped out of the presidential race.
Mr. Milton contributed $121,000 directly to Mr. Kennedy’s campaign in September, after it was suspended, the records show according to the New York Times.
Brad Bondi, a member of Mr. Milton’s defense team during the trial, is reportedly the brother of Attorney General Pam Bondi.
Mr. Milton reportedly became very rich from Nikola, even though he never had a working model. In one demo, he reportedly used a GM truck and simply replaced its logo with Nikola’s to make it look like he actually had a working model.
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