Donald Trump explained why he forgave Trevor Milton, a campaign donor who was found guilty of fraud of investors by making false declarations on his electric truck company, in comments to the oval office on Friday, telling journalists that Milton’s treatment was “very unfair” and that “the thing he did about” was to support Trump’s presidency.
“He supported Trump,” Trump told journalists. “He loved Trump. I didn’t know him, but he loved him. There are a lot of people like that.
Milton was the founder and CEO of Nikola, an electric and hydrogen truck company that went bankrupt. In 2023, a federal judge sentenced him to four years in prison and inflicted a fine of $ 1 million after being sentenced for a transferred manager and two leaders of wire fraud. The prosecutors argued that he had made false statements on his business, in particular that he had billions of dollars in binding orders. He had been free on bail at the time of forgiveness. Now Milton no longer needs to pay a return to shareholders.
“Milton made false complaints concerning almost all aspects of Nikola’s affairs,” said the Ministry of Justice during his conviction.
Milton celebrated forgiveness in a video published on Instagram. “This forgiveness is not only concerned-it is all the Americans who have been closed by the government, and unfortunately, it is a lot of people,” he wrote. “It is not surprising that confidence and confidence in the Ministry of Justice was not eroded with nothing … I saw the tactics they use in first hand to guarantee convictions.”
Milton’s lawyer is Brad Bondi, whose sister is the attorney general Pam Bondi.
In October 2024, the former CEO gave more than $ 900,000 to the Trump 47 Committee, a joint fundraising committee for the benefit of Trump and the National Republican Committee, according to FEC documents.
Trump criticized former President Joe Biden and his Ministry of Justice for the continuation of Milton while discussing forgiveness on Friday.
“You do not realize that it is a vicious group of people who were in this office before us,” said Trump, adding: “They are violent … They destroyed five years of his life … and he did nothing wrong. And he is a good person.”
