Trump Pardons Michele Fiore After Federal Conviction for Defrauding Las Vegas Police Memorial Donors

President Donald Trump granted “a full and unconditional pardon” to Michele Fiore, the former Las Vegas councilwoman found guilty of defrauding donors who believed they were giving money for a statue to honor a fallen Las Vegas police officer.

“FRAUD ALERT: Newsom adds new list of Trump’s pardoned fraudster friends to Trump Criminals tracker The Governor calls on the internet’s finest investigators to check on Trump’s MASSIVE FRAUD What you need to know: Governor Newsom today unveiled an updated public tracker that exposes President Trump’s pattern of pardoning convicted fraudsters and corrupt insiders, even as his administration falsely claims states like California are engaging in “massive fraud”

California State Portal

Fiore, who was found guilty by a federal jury in October on conspiracy and wire fraud charges, said in a text message statement to the Las Vegas Review-Journal on Thursday, “Today, I stand before you — not just as a free woman, but as a vindicated soul whose prayers were heard, whose faith held firm, and whose truth could not be buried by injustice.”

California State Portal

Federal prosecutors accused Fiore of raising tens of thousands of dollars through a charity and political action committee for a statue honoring Metropolitan Police Department officer Alyn Beck, who was shot and killed with his partner in 2014, and of spending the donations on rent, plastic surgery and payments on her daughter’s wedding.

The Las Vegas Review-Journal reported that on Thursday, Fiore’s defense attorneys filed a motion to vacate her May 14 sentencing and included a copy of Wednesday’s order from Trump pardoning Fiore.

The Nevada Attorney General Aaron Ford condemned the pardon, saying, “Donald Trump’s blatant disregard for law enforcement is sickening, and pardoning someone who stole from a police memorial fund is a disgrace,” while U.S. Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto, D-Nev., said, “Donald Trump is spitting in the face of law enforcement. Again,” on social media platform X.

The Las Vegas Review-Journal said other politicians were similarly critical, including State Senate Majority Leader Nicole Cannizzaro, D-Las Vegas, who wrote on X that “Michele Fiore abused her position to defraud Nevadans and our law enforcement community. Pardoning her solely as a reward for political loyalty is yet another embarrassing mockery of justice and the rule of law.”

In a separate account, NPR described Fiore as one of at least 15 former elected officials and their co-conspirators who were either charged with or convicted of corruption offenses and then pardoned by Trump after he returned to office last year.

Las Vegas Review-Journal

NPR quoted legal experts saying the pardons undermine the fight against public corruption, including Dan Greenberg, a senior legal fellow at the libertarian Cato Institute, who said, “Pardons are an important piece of that puzzle.”

NPR also quoted Columbia Law School professor Richard Briffault saying, “There's kind of a disdain for the very idea that corruption is a problem,” and that the administration’s actions send a signal that it doesn’t think corruption should be treated seriously.

The White House defended the pardons in an NPR statement, with spokeswoman Abigail Jackson saying, “President Trump has exercised his constitutional authority to issue pardons and commutations for a variety of individuals, including those who have been victims of Biden's weaponized justice system.”

Fiore cast the pardon in biblical terms, beginning her statement with a phrase lifted from the book of Isaiah: “No weapon formed against me shall prosper,” and saying she would return to her position as a Pahrump justice of the peace.

“President Donald Trump has granted “a full and unconditional pardon” to Michele Fiore, the former Las Vegas councilwoman found guilty of defrauding donors who believed they were giving money for a statue to honor a fallen Las Vegas police officer”

Las Vegas Review-Journal

The Las Vegas Review-Journal reported that Fiore wrote, “On Monday, I will walk back into my courtroom as the elected Justice of the Peace — not because man permitted it, but because God ordained it,” and that Pahrump Justice Court administrator Alisa Shoults said she did not yet know if Fiore would return to her position Monday.

NPR said the pardons have a “chilling effect” on enforcement, quoting John Keller, who worked for more than a decade in the Justice Department's public corruption-fighting section, saying, “So I think it has a chilling effect on specific cases. I think it has a chilling effect generally on prosecutors from pursuing public corruption cases at all,” after Trump’s 2024 election win.

NPR also described the Justice Department unit called the Public Integrity Section, set up after Watergate to investigate and prosecute public corruption and election crimes, and said the administration’s actions send a signal that corruption is not treated seriously.

In the Las Vegas Review-Journal, the commission said it was “aware of the situation” but declined to comment, while David Sachar, director of the National Center for State Courts’ judicial ethics center, said a pardon or not guilty verdict would not take away a state’s authority to discipline a judge.