Mesa County Sheriff’s Office
Audio By Carbonatix
President Donald Trump announced on his Truth Social platform today, December 11, that he was granting former Mesa County Clerk Tina Peters a “full Pardon.”
Trump’s online announcement comes mere days after a federal magistrate tossed a lawsuit filed by Peters asking to be released on bond pending appeal. Peters was convicted last year on state felony charges of election tampering while she was charged with overseeing the county’s elections.
Unfortunately for Peters and her outspoken allies like right-wing podcaster Joe Oltmann, the president has no authority to pardon state convictions — only those for federal crimes.
Peters, who began serving a nine-year sentence after her 2024 conviction, is a vocal Trump supporter, and propagated the lie that the 2020 presidential election was stolen, resulting in a win by Joe Biden. The 2020 presidential election denier was tried and convicted in Colorado under state statutes after using her office to allow an associate of MyPillow founder Mike Lindell to access county election equipment.
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Mesa County’s District Attorney, Daniel Rubinstein, who filed the case against Peters, is a Republican; Trump won the county in 2020. But that hasn’t deterred the deniers and defenders of Peters, Trump included.
Late Thursday afternoon, Trump posted this to his social media account:
“For years, Democrats ignored Violent and Vicious Crime of all shapes, sizes, colors, and types. Violent Criminals who should have been locked up were allowed to attack again. Democrats were also far too happy to let in the worst from the worst countries so they could rip off American Taxpayers. Democrats only think there is one crime – Not voting for them! Instead of protecting Americans and their Tax Dollars, Democrats chose instead to prosecute anyone they can find that wanted Safe and Secure Elections. Democrats have been relentless in their targeting of TINA PETERS, a Patriot who simply wanted to make sure that our Elections were Fair and Honest. Tina is sitting in a Colorado prison for the “crime” of demanding Honest Elections. Today I am granting Tina a full Pardon for her attempts to expose Voter Fraud in the Rigged 2020 Presidential Election!”
Trump’s illegitimate social media pardon follows his attack on Democratic Colorado Governor Jared Polis eight days earlier, when he wrote:
“The SLEAZEBAG Governor of Colorado, Jared Polis, refuses to allow an elderly woman, Tina Peters, who was unfairly convicted of what the Democrats do, cheating on Elections, out of jail! She was convicted for trying to stop Democrats from stealing Colorado Votes in the Election. She was preserving Election Records, which she was obligated to do under Federal Law. She has now served more than one year in jail, and has eight years to go. On top of everything else, she is a cancer ‘survivor.’ This lightweight Governor, who has allowed his State to go to hell (Tren de Aragua, anyone?), should be ashamed of himself. FREE TINA!”
Polis actually does have the power to pardon Peters. He’s been too quiet on the topic of the Trump administration’s pressure campaign for the state’s county clerks, but the governor posted this statement on X Thursday evening:
Colorado Attorney General Phil Weiser, who’s running for governor in the Democratic primary next year, released a video on Bluesky stating the president “has no authority to do that.”
“Tina Peters is in Colorado state prison because she broke the law and was convicted by a jury of her peers. In Colorado, no one is above the law,” Weiser says in the video. “I’m not afraid of Donald Trump or his political pressure. I will always stand up for the rule of law and fight for what’s right.”
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