ARTICLE AD BOX
Donald Trump has pardoned a disgraced Nevada Republican who spent part of the $70,000 raised to erect a memorial of a slain police officer on plastic surgery procedures.
Michele Fiore, 54, was found guilty in October of six counts of federal wire fraud and one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud.
The 54-year-old former Las Vegas City councilwoman and state lawmaker, who ran unsuccessfully in 2022 for state treasurer, was due to be sentenced May 14.
The pro-gun, anti-vaccine advocate who has been styled by the media as “Lady Trump” expressed her “eternal” gratitude to the president after she was granted a full and unconditional pardon Wednesday.
Fiore accused the federal government and “select media outlets” of a broad, decade-long conspiracy to “target and dismantle” her life in a lengthy Facebook statement on Thursday, which was then removed but archived by The Nevada Independent.
“Today, I stand before you — not just as a free woman, but as a vindicated soul,” she said. “For nearly a decade, I endured relentless persecution by a federal machine determined to break me.”
According to the indictment, Fiore’s criminal scheme unfolded over a seven-month period between July 2019 and January 2020, while serving on the Las Vegas City Council.
Fiore had reportedly raised more than $70,000 for the statue of Las Vegas Metro Police Department officer Alyn Beck, who was fatally shot in 2014 in the line of duty.
Court records showed a private real estate company actually paid for the statue, which was unveiled in January 2020.
Instead, the MAGA-aligned conspiracy theorist who once said that cancer is “a fungus” that can be cured by flushing saltwater through the body, spent some of it on cosmetic surgery, rent and her daughter’s wedding, prosecutors said.
“Michele Fiore used a tragedy to line her pockets,” federal prosecutor Dahoud Askar said.
FBI agents in 2021 subpoenaed records and searched Fiore’s home in Las Vegas in connection with her campaign spending.
In a statement, Nevada Democratic Party Executive Director Hilary Barrett called the pardon “reckless” and a “slap in the face” to law enforcement officers.
Fiore, who does not have a law degree, was appointed as a judge in deep-red Nye County in 2022 shortly after she lost her campaign for state treasurer.
She was elected last June to complete the unexpired term of a judge who died but had been suspended without pay amid her legal troubles. Pahrump is an hour’s drive west of Las Vegas.
In her statement Thursday, Fiore also said she plans to return to the bench next week.
Nye County said in an email to the Associated Press that it is awaiting an update from the state Commission on Judicial Discipline on Fiore's current suspension. The news agency said it sent emails seeking comment to the commission, as well as Fiore's lawyer.
Fiore served in the state Legislature from 2012 to 2016. She was a Las Vegas councilwoman from 2017 to 2022.
While serving as a state lawmaker, Fiore gained national attention for her support of rancher Cliven Bundy and his family during armed standoffs between militiamen and federal law enforcement officers in Bunkerville, Nevada, in 2014 and Malheur, Oregon, in 2016.
Prior to her political career, Fiore co-wrote, produced, and starred in Siren, a 2006 film about Storm Fagan — played by Fiore — an “ordinary overweight middle-aged wife and mom” whose “dream of being a rock star still weighs heavy on her soul,” according to an IMDb synopsis.
The Independent has reached out to the White House for more information.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
English (US) ·