"President Trump last night issued a full pardon to Utah state Rep. Phil Lyman (R), who served a brief jail stint for leading an illegal all-terrain vehicle protest ride through a closed Utah canyon in 2015.

An outspoken critic of federal land managers, Lyman praised Trump in a statement posted to Facebook. He also used the platform to slam "persistent federal attacks on rural Utah by the Bureau of Land Management."

"The false narratives of the media have been so damaging, not only to me but to the truth," Lyman wrote. "We protested a federal agency that wrongly and maliciously raided our community."

In 2015, a federal jury convicted Lyman, then a San Juan County commissioner, for misdemeanor illegal use of ATVs and conspiracy for organizing a 50-vehicle ride through closed BLM areas."

Jennifer Yachnin reports for E&E News December 23, 2020. [2]