Former Las Vegas City Councilwoman Michele Fiore indicated in court documents this week that the federal government has labeled her a “domestic terrorist” since 2020 and recently raised her threat level — two weeks before she is set to stand trial on federal wire fraud charges.
In a motion filed Tuesday, Fiore’s lawyer Michael Sanft blasted federal prosecutors’ efforts to prohibit certain arguments from the defense, particularly those related to her support of the Bundy ranching family, who was at the center of the infamous armed standoff regarding cattle grazing on federal land in Nevada.
That case was dismissed after prosecutors failed to hand over evidence that could have helped the defense, and Fiore has accused prosecutors of engaging in a similar type of misconduct in her case.
The motion referred to (nonpublic) documents that allegedly assigned Fiore a Level II Threat level, a federal designation for people who have potentially engaged in anti-government or anti-authority violent extremism. It also accused the government of raising her threat level from Level I (reserved for racially motivated violent extremism) to Level II sometime between 2020 and this year.
“[B]ut-for the Bundy ranching incident, Ms. Fiore would not have been subject to that classification of a Domestic Terrorist,” the motion argued.
Sanft and a Department of Justice spokesperson did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
In 2014, Fiore stayed at the ranch of Cliven Bundy during his armed standoff with the Bureau of Land Management and called his militia members “freedom fighters.” Two years later, she went to Oregon to support Cliven’s son, Ammon Bundy, who had led an armed occupation of a wildlife refuge. The Bundys recently held a press conference in support of Fiore.
The accusation is the latest escalation in Fiore’s federal fraud trial. A hearing on whether to allow arguments related to the Bundy ranching case, among others, is scheduled for Sept. 20, with the trial set to begin four days later.
The indictment — six counts of wire fraud and one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud — center on the construction of a statue honoring Alyn Beck, a Las Vegas police officer killed in the line of duty in 2014. Prosecutors alleged that Fiore solicited donations to fund the statue through her PAC and a nonprofit she ran, but the money raised instead went to pay for her political fundraising bills, rent and daughter’s wedding.
She faces as many as 20 years imprisonment on each count.
In addition to seeking to block arguments related to the Bundy family, prosecutors have sought to block the defense from using arguments related to her political beliefs, the implications of a potential sentence as it relates to Fiore’s age, 54, (she is a grandmother) and the “good acts” she has done.
The motion filed Tuesday accused prosecutors of trying “to completely gut Ms. Fiore’s defense.”
“[T]he unfathomable and nefarious acts the Government has engaged in this particular case remains unprecedented in any campaign finance violation case in the history of the State of Nevada,” the motion read.
On Monday, Fiore pleaded not guilty to two additional charges of defrauding donors for personal gain. Among those allegedly defrauded are Gov. Joe Lombardo, a Las Vegas construction workers union and Las Vegas City Councilwoman Victoria Seaman, who previously sued Fiore for physical assault while they were council members.
