The president of the United States, Donald Trump, has once again exercised his presidential power to pardon an ally policy that has demonstrated fidelity to his cause. Michele Fioreformer republican councilor of the city of Las Vegas, has avoided a possible sentence that would have kept her in prison up to 140 years for the embezzlement of about 61,700 euros. Those funds, collected to honor with a statue a murdered policeman in an act of service, ended up paying aesthetic surgery, several months of rent and, also, the wedding of their daughter.
A jury declared it guilty in October 2024 of six crimes of fraud and one of association to commit crimes. This Thursday, his lawyers presented to the Federal Court the pardon that Trump signed on the eve. Fiore celebrated the news on his social networks with a message in which, of course, he appreciated the gesture to the US president: “Today I present to you, not only as a free woman, but as a claimed soul whose prayers were heard.”
The White House confirmed Fiore’s pardon, but did not want to comment on the decision that Donald Trump has made. On the other hand, the pardoned did pronounced with forcefulness in social networks, where she denounced a conspiracy orchestrated by the federal government and “certain media” to ruin her whole life because of her ideology.
A career with several political lives
The case started when, as a councilor of Las Vegas, Fiore promoted in 2014 a campaign to raise funds aimed at paying tribute to a police officer murdered in an act of service. According to the Prosecutor’s Office, he diverted part of the money for personal purposes. “Michele Fiore used a tragedy to fill her pockets,” said federal prosecutor Dahoud Askar during the trial.
The FBI agents began investigating her in 2021. They registered her home and found evidence that allowed her to take her before the courts. After the conviction, his defense tried to get a new trial, but the Court rejected it last week. Trump’s forgiveness arrived a few days later.
Fiore occupied a seat in the state legislature for the Republican Party between 2012 and 2016, and was part of the Las Vegas City Council from 2017 to 2022. That same year he lost the Republican primaries for the State Treasury, but shortly after he assumed as a judge in Nye County, despite not having legal formation. They suspended it without salary at the beginning of the judicial process. Now he says he will return to the court next week.
Nye’s authorities explain that they have not yet received instructions from the State Judicial Discipline. According to the AP agency, that agency already has a record of the pardon, although for now he has not commented on his situation.
Criticisms from the opposition have not been long in coming. The executive director of the Democratic Party of Nevada, Hilary Barrett, said that “the pardon is a reckless decision that insults police officers and reinforces the dangerous idea that those who commit serious crimes can avoid the consequences if they are loyal to Donald Trump,” he told the AP agency.
During his stage as a state legislator, Fiore supported the Ranchero Cliven Bundy in his armed clashes with federal authorities in Bunkerville and Oregon. Now, with presidential forgiveness in force, he also tries to recover his career in the judiciary.
