Trump issues a phony pardon for election fraudster Tina Peters
DENVER — Just in time for the holidays, President Trump issued another of his questionable pardons. Or rather, turn it into “forgiveness”.
This comes on behalf of a former Colorado election official who was sentenced to nine years in prison for election fraud.
“Democrats brutally targeted TINA PETERS, a Patriot who wanted to make sure our elections were fair and honest,” Trump said in a typically fiery, hypocritical post on social media.
“Tina is sitting in a prison in Colorado for the ‘crime’ of demanding Honest Elections,” the President continued. “Today I grant Tina a full pardon for her attempts to expose fraudulent voter fraud in the 2020 Presidential Election.”
In fact, Peters’ crime was to allow an unauthorized person access to voting equipment as part of a crazy scheme to “prove” that the November 2020 vote was fraudulent, then lie and cover up his illegal actions.
And he’s unlikely to be released from prison anytime soon.
That’s because Trump has absolutely zero say in Peters’ fate, given that the former Mesa County elections chief was convicted on state charges. The president’s pardon power, which Trump has distorted to the breaking point, covers only federal cases. If we’re gonna play pretend, then maybe Snoo Foo-Foo He could personally escort Peters from prison and crown her Queen of the Rockies.
But that doesn’t mean Trump’s empty gesture is harmless. (Apologies to Foo-Foo and Dr. Seuss.)
Some extremists, always ready to carry out Trump’s malicious orders, have taken up Peters’ cause, using the same offensive language that foreshadowed the attack on the US Capitol on January 6, 2021. In fact, the threats came from some of the thugs whom Trump pardoned in one of the first shameless acts of his presidency.
“WE THE PEOPLE ARE COMING TO BREAK TINA PETERS IN JAIL IN 45 DAYS,” said rioter Jake Lang, who is accused of attacking police with an aluminum baseball bat, on social media. “If Tina M. Peters is not released from La Vista Prison in Colorado to Federal Authorities by January 31, 2026, the US Marshals and January 6 Patriots WILL TAKE ACTION TO RELEASE TINA!!”‘
(Capitalization and random punctuation are apparently ways to demonstrate enthusiasm as well as prove one’s MAGA bona fides.)
Enrique Tarrio, the former head of the extremist Proud Boys group, whom Trump also pardoned, shared a screenshot of the president’s social media post. “A war is coming,” Tarrio said.
Trump’s so-called pardon is not the first intervention on behalf of Peters.
In March, the Justice Department asked a federal judge to spare Peters from prison, saying there were “reasonable concerns” about the length of his sentence. The judge refused.
In November, the administration wrote to the Colorado Department of Corrections and asked that Peters be placed in federal custody, which would allow for his possible release. No, don’t go.
Earlier this month, apparently looking to ratchet up the pressure, the Justice Department announced an investigation into the state’s prison system. (Perhaps Peters was not given the special “magnetic bed” he requested while serving his sentence to help with his sleeping problems.)
Like any child, Trump calls people names when he doesn’t get his way. On Monday, he set his sights on Colorado’s Democratic governor, Jared Polis (a weak, pathetic man) for refusing to release Peters from state prison.
“Venezuelan criminals took over parts of Colorado and were afraid to do anything, but they put Tina in prison for nine years for catching people cheating,” Trump said. he said.
The only real part of this statement is that Colorado actually exists.
Although Trump portrays Peters as a martyr, Peter is anything but.
As Polis noted in response to Trump’s “pardon,” he was tried by a Republican district attorney and convicted by a jury of his peers. It is worth noting that the jury consisted of citizens of Mesa County. This is not a liberal playground. In the rugged region of Colorado’s Western Slope, voters supported Trump by margins approaching 2-to-1 each of his three runs for president.
If Peters’ sentence seems harsh — and it is — listen to what the judge says.
Peters’s motivation was not suggested by principle or the search for truth, but rather by vanity and personal conceit. He betrayed the public’s trust and eroded faith in an honestly conducted election to curry favor with Trump and others who cheated on his Big Lie.
“You are as privileged as they are, and you have used that privilege to gain power, followers and fame,” Judge Matthew Barrett told Peters in a heartbreaking speech. “You are a charlatan who used and still uses his former position in office to sell snake oil that has been proven time and time again to be junk.”
Peters remains unapologetic.
In petitioning Trump for clemency, his lawyer filed nine pages of rambling arguments alleging that Peters was the victim of a conspiracy involving voting machine vendors, the Colorado secretary of state and the Venezuelan government, among others.
Peters rejected calls for violence to free him.
“Tina categorically CONDEMNS and REJECTS any statement or OPERATION, public or private, involving a ‘prison break’ or any form of use of force against La Vista or any other CDOC facility,” a post on social media said, also in random capital letters.
Perhaps the parole board will take those sentiments into account when Peters, 70, becomes eligible for parole in January 2029, which coincides with the end of Trump’s term.
This seems appropriate.
Keep Peters locked up until then; thus set an example and deterrent to others who might consider imitating him by undermining the truth and attacking our democracy.
