WASHINGTON – In October 2024, a federal jury in Las Vegas convicted Michele Fiore, a local elected official and ardent supporter of President Donald Trump, of charity fraud. Fiore, the jury found, solicited donations for a slain police officer’s memorial and spent nearly $80,000 of it on plastic surgery, her daughter’s wedding and rent.
The jury deliberated for less than two hours, including a lunch break, before finding Fiore guilty on seven charges brought by the Department of Justice.
Weeks before she was to be sentenced last year, Trump granted Fiore “a full and unconditional pardon,” sparing her the prospect of decades in prison, payment of criminal fines, and any restitution to donors whose funds she misspent. In a statement at the time, a White House spokesperson noted Fiore’s support for the president and said that Biden-era prosecutors had targeted the politician, known in Nevada as “Lady Trump,” because of “outspoken conservative views.”
In an email to Reuters, Fiore criticized prosecutors and witnesses and maintained her innocence. “I have never taken one red cent of donations for my personal use,” she wrote. She declined to answer detailed questions about her career, case and conviction.
Fiore is one of at least 85 public officials granted clemency by Trump after charges or convictions related to corruption, according to the first comprehensive examination of such measures over the president’s two terms in office so far.
The Reuters review shows that the political impetus behind Fiore’s pardon wasn’t an outlier: The recipients of Trump’s clemency for public officials overwhelmingly have been fellow Republicans or vocal proponents of his MAGA movement.
They include at least 11 of 15 Republican members of Congress convicted of wrongdoing over the past two decades. Of the 85 public officials identified in Reuters’ analysis, 36 were elected as Republicans and another 19 were Republicans appointed to political office. Nine others had either campaigned for Trump or publicly espoused support for his agenda. Only four were known Democrats, including one Texas congressman whom Trump erroneously believed would switch parties after the pardon. The news agency couldn’t determine partisan affiliation for the 17 other officials.
Trump’s repeated acts of clemency for public officials charged with or convicted of corruption-related crimes have led to what more than a dozen current and former prosecutors, along with other legal experts and political researchers, say is impunity for people meant to uphold the public trust. The impunity, these people said, can encourage more wrongdoing by other officials, eroding the foundational democratic concept that no one, no matter what office they hold, is above the law. The problem, they added, is compounded if the concept of clemency is tainted by perceptions of partisan or personal bias.
“President Trump is trying to end accountability for public officials,” said Phillip Halpern, a retired assistant US attorney in San Diego who prosecuted two Republican congressmen Trump later pardoned. “He’s setting a standard to encourage corruption and allow it to flourish.”
