Michele Fiore: funds raised for a slain officer's memorial, spent on herself, pardoned

Editor's note: the pardon is on the official record, and reporting documents her loyalty to the president, but no official record establishes a return to him.

In April 2025, weeks before her scheduled sentencing, Trump granted a full, unconditional pardon to former Las Vegas councilwoman Michele Fiore - a decade-long MAGA loyalist nicknamed 'Lady Trump' - whom a federal jury had convicted (in about two hours) of wire fraud for raising more than $70,000 for a statue honoring a slain police officer and spending it instead on personal expenses including rent, cosmetic surgery, and her daughter's wedding.

Fiore had hitched her political career to Trump, benefited from his endorsement in a state-treasurer race, and amplified his false 2020 voter-fraud claims. A constitutional-law expert (Brian Kalt) observed that 'the main criterion seems to be someone is a supporter and if Trump can sort of identify with them as the victim of a politically motivated prosecution.'

The pardon nullified a conviction for a particularly cynical fraud - diverting money donated to memorialize a fallen officer - on the basis of the recipient's political loyalty, before she had even been sentenced.