Categories: Business

Trump Pardoned Tina Peters—Who Judge Called ‘Charlatan’—But Here’s Why She Remains In Jail

Topline

Controversial former Mesa County election clerk and 2020 election denier Tina Peters—who is serving a nine-year prison sentence in Colorado for election equipment tampering—urged a state appeals court to recognize her pardon by President Donald Trump, but it doesn’t apply to state convictions.

Tina Peters is currently serving a nine year prison sentence in Colorado.

Key Facts

In a plea this week, Peters’ attorneys argued the Colorado appeals court must set her free, as it no longer has jurisdiction over her case due to a pardon issued by Trump earlier this month, the Associated Press reported.

The court is scheduled to hear from Peters’ lawyers’ appeal on January 14 and it has asked lawyers from the state attorney general’s office to respond to the former election clerk’s arguments by January 8.

Smith—whose wild arrest in 2022, where she appeared to kick a police officer, was captured on police bodycam footage and went viral—is arguing that President George Washington issued pardons in 1795 that covered both state and federal crimes linked to the Whiskey Rebellion.

Documents included in the filing show that one of Peters’ lawyers approached the state prison system to seek her release after Trump’s pardon announcement, but the state refused to do so.

If the appeals court finds the pardon invalid, Peters will appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court, her lawyer told AP.

What Do We Know About Trump’s Pardon?

Earlier this month, Trump granted Peters a presidential pardon: “For those offenses she has or may have committed or taken part in related to election integrity and security during the period from January 1, 2020, through December 31, 2021.” He first announced the pardon in a Truth Social post, saying: “Today I am granting Tina a full Pardon for her attempts to expose Voter Fraud,” before reiterating false claims about the 2020 presidential election being rigged. Trump accused the Democrats of being “relentless in their targeting” of the prominent election denier. He claimed that Peters—who was convicted of tampering with her county’s voting equipment— “simply wanted to make sure that our Elections were Fair and Honest.” The Justice Department’s Pardon Attorney, Ed Martin, shared Trump’s post on X, and wrote, “No one left behind,” a slogan he has used to cheer the clemency issued to other prominent Trump allies and supporters.

Who Is Tina Peters And Why Is Trump Pushing For Her Release?

Peters is a prominent Trump supporter and one of the biggest proponents of his false claims about the outcome of the 2020 presidential election. In 2022, she was arrested by police after trying to obstruct officials from the district attorney’s office who had served her a search warrant for an iPad she owned. The bodycam video of the arrest garnered viral attention on social media as Peters was seen demanding that the officers let her go and even seemed to kick one of them. She has since become a celebrated figure among election deniers and hardcore Trump supporters. Last year, Peters was convicted by a jury on seven criminal counts, including attempting to influence a public servant, conspiracy to commit criminal impersonation, first-degree official misconduct, violation of duty and failing to comply with the Secretary of State. Her sentencing also produced some viral moments as the judge called her out, saying, “I am convinced you would do it all over again if you could. You’re as defiant as any defendant this court has ever seen…You are no hero…You’re a charlatan who used and is still using your prior position in office to peddle a snake oil that’s been proven to be junk time and time again.”

Tangent

In November, when Trump issued pardons for several allies accused of being involved in a bid to overturn the 2020 election, some followers asked the DOJ Pardon Attorney why Peters’ name was left out. Martin responded, saying, “We are working on it!” Peter Ticktin, one of the former county clerk’s lawyers, has made several media appearances—including on prominent right-wing podcasts—pushing for her release. In November, he appeared on Steve Bannon’s podcast, where the former Trump aide suggested that the president could use the military to free the former Mesa County clerk from prison. Ticktin said he would “love to see that happen,” prompting Bannon to respond: “This audience would one million percent back you, back the Justice Department, back the Secretary of War, back the President of the United States if we did this tomorrow morning.”

What Have Colorado Officials Said?

Colorado’s Democratic Gov. Jared Polis, who has been a subject of Trump’s social media attacks, has not publicly commented on Peters’ latest bid to seek her release from prison. Earlier this month, Polis pointed out that the election denier had been “prosecuted by a Republican district attorney” and found guilty under the state’s laws. “No President has jurisdiction over state law nor the power to pardon a person for state convictions,” Polis said at the time. Colorado Attorney General Phil Weiser has described Trump’s pardon as a “lawless act…[and] an act of intimidation,” adding, “It has no basis in American law. Our system of government gives states authority to run their own criminal justice systems…This president doesn’t respect the rule of law.” Before Trump issued the pardon, the director of the Federal Bureau of Prisons had asked the Colorado Department of Corrections to transfer Peters into federal custody. But state officials denied the request, saying, “The state is the entity that would initiate any transfer request. There is no standard practice for another prison system to request a transfer.”