WASHINGTON DC, USA. — Trump has pardoned scores of US public officials charged with or convicted of crimes related to corruption. But his clemency skews right. A Reuters analysis shows the vast majority of recipients were Republicans or vocal proponents of his MAGA movement.
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.”
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.”
Administration officials have repeatedly defended the president’s use of the pardon power, granted by the Constitution and ample in scope. Lauren Bis, a White House spokesperson, said in a statement that Trump grants clemency for “many Americans unjustly prosecuted by the Biden administration’s weaponised Department of Justice.”
At least 85 American public officials have been 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.
