Trump Pardons Ex-Police Sergeant Convicted of Acting as CCP Agent

Nov 08, 2025 - 11:00

Updated: 6 months ago

Trump Pardons Ex-Police Sergeant Convicted of Acting as CCP Agent

President Donald Trump has pardoned Michael McMahon, a former NYPD sergeant who, in April, had been sentenced 18 months in a Chinese transnational repression case, a White House official has confirmed.

McMahon and two Chinese men were convicted in 2023 of targeting a Chinese man living in New Jersey to pressure him into returning to China.

This case was one of several related to the Chinese communist regime’s “Operation Fox Hunt”—a campaign in which the regime seeks to repatriate Chinese nationals to face charges in China. Although the regime often cites charges such as corruption, the operation frequently targets dissidents and critics of the regime.

McMahon, who was working as a private investigator at the time, pleaded not guilty. He said that he believed he was investigating someone who had embezzled funds from a company and that he was “unwittingly used.”

“President Trump approved a pardon for Michael McMahon. Mr. McMahon is a former law enforcement officer who had a distinguished career serving with the NYPD, earning 75 commendations, including the Police Combat Cross, before medically retiring after a crash during a high speed chase. While on modified desk duty, Mr. McMahon also responded in the aftermath of the 9/11 attacks,” a White House official told The Epoch Times on Nov. 7.

McMahon’s indictment stood out at the time as an example of the Chinese regime co-opting American institutions and using former law enforcement or military personnel to carry out its transnational repression. According to court documents, McMahon used his contacts and operational know-how from his police career in incidents related to the victim.

According to the White House official, there were issues with both the trial and the investigation.

“Key interviews were not disclosed and key witnesses allegedly fabricated incidents,” the official said.

McMahon’s wife Martha Byrne, an Emmy award-winning actress who has been championing her husband’s cause, announced the pardon on social media, writing “we are beyond grateful” and thanking Rep. Mike Lawler (R-N.Y.) for supporting McMahon. Lawler, who lobbied for McMahon’s pardon, wrote that McMahon “never should have been prosecuted to begin with.”

Actress Martha Byrne and husband Michael McMahon attend the Reception For The 31st Annual Daytime Emmy Awards Hosted By Mayor Bloomberg at the Gracie Mansion in New York City on May 20, 2004. Thos Robinson/Getty Images

Byrne and McMahon attended Trump’s inauguration, according to a post Byrne shared on Jan. 21.

“Honored to have been invited to the inauguration of President Trump. I was never a political person until the DOJ tried to destroy my family,” she wrote. “I have been fighting every single day for justice for Mike. Throughout this challenging time I have met some incredible people who actually listened and helped.”

McMahon had been sentenced to 18 months, and had applied for a commutation to his sentence earlier this year.

His co-defendant, Zheng Congying, a Chinese national and U.S. permanent resident, was sentenced to 16 months, and co-defendant Zhu Yong, a Chinese national, was sentenced to two years.

The Chinese regime is one of the worst transnational repression offenders, according to human rights organization Freedom House, which has published annual reports since 2021 on authoritarian regimes’ illegal activity on foreign soil.

The discovery of a secret Chinese police station operating illegally in New York alerted Americans more broadly to the regime’s practice of transnational repression, and the FBI determined that the Chinese regime’s counterintelligence and espionage is a threat to national security.

FBI Director Kash Patel testified in September before the Senate that there were active investigations into the Chinese regime’s counterintelligence “across all 55 FBI field offices.”

Trump on Nov. 7 also approved pardons for former Tennessee House speaker Glen Casada and his ex-chief of staff, Cade Cothren.