One week before prison release, Tina Peters shows how remorseful she is

Well, that didn’t take long.

One week after learning her prison sentence had been commuted by Governor Jared Polis and one week before she’s set to be released, former Mesa County Clerk and ardent 2020 election denier went right back to the well.

“They are attacking the governor for showing mercy, and they have put a bullseye on a 70-year-old, nonviolent, first-time offender,” reads part of a May 22 tweet from Peters.

First-time treason, maybe.

Peters was sentenced to nine years in prison in October 2024 for allowing outsiders associated with MyPillow CEO Mike Lindell to breach official election equipment in 2021. While still serving as Mesa County clerk, a county Donald Trump won handily, she was an active denier of the 2020 presidential election results that saw Joe Biden beat Trump — but just those results, and not the votes that saw Republicans overtake the House and Senate in the same election. (Those were totally accurate and honest.)

But Peters has powerful allies. Trump attempted to issue a nonsensical federal “pardon” on her behalf in December despite her being imprisoned on state charges, and has repeatedly called for her release since, daring and insulting Polis in the process.

Polis, who’s gone to bat against Trump and others in defense of Colorado’s election system, began publicly softening on Peters’ sentence this year, calling her sentence too harsh and hinting at a review. An appeals court decision seemed to take some pressure off the governor in April, however, when it issued an opinion ordering her resentencing, based in part on “improper consideration of her exercise of her right to free speech.”

Democrats and even some Republicans across the country begged Polis to leave the issue alone and wait for the resentencing, pointing to a glaring lack of evidence to back up election denial claims and Peters’ clear lack of remorse since she was arrested.

Polis couldn’t wait, though. He commuted her sentence on May 15, arguing that he did it on behalf of free speech and fair sentencing while acknowledging she was a “conspiracy theorist” who broke the law. In a statement released by her attorney that night, Peters said she had “learned and grown during my time in prison” and was “sorry” for the “mistakes” she made in 2021. In March, Peters’ attorney had also said she was remorseful as he pushed for her release.

Based on her latest tweet, it’s hard to see what Peters was ever sorry about. Two days after Polis was censured by his own party for commuting Peters’ sentence — something he joked about shortly after eating a carrot at a press conference — the former county clerk posted a lengthy tweet once again questioning the 2020 election and admonishing the “radical left.”

“I feel it is important to speak out against the travesty we are seeing happen in Colorado. The Democrats have once again shown that if you do not stay within their party line, they will try to destroy you. Governor Jared Polis commuted 9 sentences and pardoned 35 people. But the outrage from Colorado Democrats is aimed at Governor Polis and me. They are attacking the governor for showing mercy, and they have put a bullseye on a 70-year-old, nonviolent, first-time offender. Doesn’t that make you wonder why?” she asked.

Upon granting clemency to Peters, Polis said he hoped she was “no longer a martyr” and would become “just another person who believes in conspiracies on the street after this.”

Peters, who never stopped spouting her claims behind bars, clearly views herself as both.

And in one more week, she’ll be on the street — and on TV, social media and potentially in Washington, D.C., demanding millions of dollars through Trump’s newly announced $1.8-billion “anti-weaponization” fund, meant to pay out political allies who feel they have been unfairly and politically prosecuted by past administrations.