WASHINGTON — President Trump has pardoned Trevor Milton, a convicted fraudster who once ran electric and hydrogen vehicle-making Nikola Motors — a now-bankrupt rival of Elon Musk’s Tesla.
Milton, 42, announced the pardon Thursday on X, and two White House officials confirmed to The Post Friday that Trump, 78, had indeed issued the reprieve — stifling speculation that it might be a PR stunt by Milton.
It’s unclear who advocated internally for Milton to receive clemency following his 2022 conviction on three counts of fraud involving Nikola — which like Tesla is named after the pioneering Serbian-American engineer.
Once a billionaire with a company valued more than Ford, Milton fell into disgrace when critics alleged that promotional videos showed his vehicles simply rolling downhill without propulsion.
He later was accused of molesting two women, including a then-15-year-old cousin, though he didn’t face charges in either case.
Trump has repeatedly and publicly sympathized with businessmen accused of misconduct, citing his own legal woes in New York over the valuation of his assets and claiming prosecutors can make false claims to skewer their target — frequently mentioning assessments of his Mar-a-Lago estate.
Musk, one of Trump’s top advisers and a leader of the Department of Government Efficiency cost-cutting initiative, previously ridiculed Nikola’s technology, calling it “staggeringly dumb” and tweeting, “fuel cells = fool sells.”
Trump himself has mocked the idea of hydrogen-powered cars, musing in public about explosions that leave no evidence of deceased drivers.
