On his last full day in office Tuesday, outgoing president Donald Trump pardoned Anthony Levandowski, who worked for what is now Waymo, Google’s self-driving-car division. (The Verge)

Talking point: Levandowski founded Otto, a self-driving-truck company, after leaving Google. Uber acquired Otto in 2016. He was found to have downloaded thousands of files before leaving Google. Google sued him and Uber fired him. In August 2020, a judge sentenced Levandowski to 18 months in prison for the “biggest trade secret crime I have ever seen.” Levandowski, who never started his sentence as he was not required to report until the threat of the pandemic passed, tweeted today, “My family and I are grateful for the opportunity to move forward, and thankful to the President and others who supported and advocated on my behalf.”