The Trump Department of Justice has filed a statement of interest in the case of former Colorado county clerk Tina Peters, 69, who was given “an exceptionally lengthy sentence” of nine years in prison last October for her role in an alleged security breach of Mesa County’s elections systems.
In May of 2021, Peters conducted audits of the November 2020 election results in Mesa County, and the April 2021 municipal election in Grand Junction, at the request of her constituents, who had “claimed the results tabulated on Dominion machines were improbable,” her attorney John Case stated in a Court motion, last year.
Jurors found Peters guilty in August 2024 of “allowing a man to misuse a security card to access to the Mesa County election system and for being deceptive about that person’s identity.”
Article 3 Project’s Mike Davis opined on X that “trumped up charges” against Peters were brought by “hyper-partisan Democrat Colorado Secretary of State Jena Griswold and Attorney General Phil Weiser, along with a weak Republican local District Attorney Dan Rubenstein.”
Calling Griswold “a partisan slob,” Davis pointed out that Colorado’s Sec. of State “allowed voting-machine passwords to remain publicly posted online for 4 months.”
Denver’s 9News reported last fall that the leaked passwords were just the latest in a string of errors made by Griswold’s office “that undercut voter confidence in elections.”
In 2022, the Secretary of State’s office sent out mailers to 30,000 noncitizens inviting them to vote, and used Colorado’s ballot tracking system to send messages to specific Coloradans encouraging them to vote after they had already voted “causing confusion that had to be cleaned up by the County Clerks.”
Griswold was also behind the effort to keep then-presidential nominee Donald Trump off Colorado’s 2024 primary and general election ballots, arguing he was an “ineligible insurrectionist.”
In March of 2024, after she had vigorously defended the move before the Supreme Court, SCOTUS decided in a unanimous decision that Trump should be restored to the Colorado ballot.
Griswold refused to resign in the wake of those colossal errors, insisting on staying in office “to help make sure this [2024] election is safe and secure.”
Davis also had harsh words for 21st Judicial District Judge Matthew Barrett (D), claiming the judge was “poorly rated by his community,” and “was dumb enough to state on the record he sentenced 69-year-old Tina Peters to nine years in prison because of her First Amendment-protected views on election integrity.”
During her sentencing hearing on October 4, Barrett twice called the Gold Star mom a “charlatan” who peddled “snake oil” and “lies.”
Peters pleaded for leniency, citing a plethora of health problems, including breathing issues stemming from her bout with lung cancer and the surgical removal of half a lung in 2016. She also reportedly requires a magnetic mattress due to past injuries.
Unmoved, Barrett explained that he had considered deterrence in deciding the sentence.
The judge argued that a len gthy prison sentence, rather than just probation, was necessary because of the “immeasurable damage” Peters had allegedly done to Colorado elections and to trust in the electoral process, as well as her alleged lack of remorse.
“You are a charlatan,” Barrett said during the hearing. “You betrayed your oath.”
“Colorado won’t allow anyone to threaten its elections,” Griswold said in a statement following the harsh sentencing.
“Colorado’s elections are the nation’s gold standard. I am proud of how we have responded to the first insider elections breach in the nation and look forward to another secure and successful election in November,” the Sec, of State added.
Attorney General Phil Weiser said in a statement that the sentence was “fair and just.”
Davis wrote on X: “Tina Peters is now suffering greatly in prison, because of these sadistic partisans.”
Fortunately, the attorney added, the “Trump 47 Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division, along with Colorado Acting U.S. Attorney Bishop Grewell, took the first step today to bring justice to Tina Peters.”
They filed a statement of interest in her federal habeas lawsuit, drafted by attorney Patrick McSweeney, raising these serious civil-rights problems.
Next, the Trump 47 Justice Department must open a federal civil-rights probe, under 18 U.S.C. § 241, for this apparent criminal conspiracy to violate the constitutional rights of Tina Peters.
This includes investigating Jena Griswold, Phil Weiser, Dan Rubenstein, Judge Matthew Barrett, and all other potential co-conspirators.
It is outrageous they’ve put this 69-year-old woman in prison for 9 years for simply questioning elections.
“Nobody is above the law,” Davis concluded.
