Left: U.S. President Donald Trump speaks during a joint press conference with Britain’s Prime Minister Keir Starmer in the East Room at the White House Thursday, Feb. 27, 2025, in Washington (Carl Court/Pool Photo via AP). Right: Former Mesa County Clerk and Recorder Tina Peters looks on during sentencing for her election interference case at the Mesa County District Court Thursday, Oct. 3, 2024, in Grand Junction, Colo. (Larry Robinson/The Grand Junction Daily Sentinel via AP).
The Trump administration has been accused of showing “wholly inappropriate” political concern and “unwarranted” interest in probing the state conviction of Tina Peters — the first election official found guilty of a felony in connection with 2020 election conspiracy theories — in what’s being blasted as a “grotesque attempt to weaponize the rule of law” by prosecutors in Colorado, where Peters is incarcerated.
“The United States cites not a single fact to support its baseless allegations that there are any reasonable concerns about Ms. Peters’ prosecution or sentence, or that the prosecution was politically motivated in any way,” said Colorado Attorney General Phil Weiser in a Tuesday court filing, which came roughly a week after the U.S. Justice Department submitted a “Statement of Interest” in Peters’ case. In it, the DOJ claimed “reasonable concerns” have been raised regarding Peters’ conviction that lead them to believe it was “politically-motivated” and unethical.
“While serving as the Clerk and Recorder of Mesa County, Ms. Peters deceived county employees to obtain credentials that allowed an unauthorized person to access Mesa County’s voting system after the 2020 election,” Weiser said. “There is no legitimate basis for the United States’ ‘Statement of Interest,’ and the Court should reject it.”
Peters, 69, was convicted in August of seven counts of engaging in a security breach related to unauthorized access to voting machines while she worked as a county clerk in Mesa County, Colorado. In October — after a marathon hearing in which Peters repeatedly expressed defiance and stuck to her theories — Peters was sentenced to nine years in state prison for her felony offenses.
“I am convinced you would do it all over again if you could,” U.S. District Judge Matthew Barrett told Peters at her sentencing.
“You’re as defiant as any defendant this court has ever seen,” Barrett also said. “You are no hero. You abused your position and you’re a charlatan.”
Peters and her deputy clerk, Belinda Knisley, engaged in election equipment tampering and official misconduct by allowing an unauthorized third party to make copies of voting machine hard drives in 2021, according to prosecutors. They teamed up to do this before and after a “trusted build” systems upgrade was carried out in May 2021. Both believed that President Donald Trump had won the 2020 election against Joe Biden and that the voting machines were rigged to give Biden the win.
“Our nation’s commitment to the principle of the ‘rule of law’ requires the equal and fair administration of the law regardless of the defendant in any particular case,” Weiser said Tuesday. “The United States’ suggestion that there is a uniquely important interest in advocating for this individual — because of her political views — is unprecedented, highly problematic, and a threat to the rule of law. Like other challenges to this fundamental principle, this effort must be rejected outright, and our nation must hold firm to this core commitment of our justice system.”
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According to Trump’s DOJ, Peters has been pursuing a direct appeal of her “underlying nonviolent convictions” and nine-year sentence while locked up in Colorado. The department claims she suffers from “serious health issues” and that her physical and mental health have “deteriorated” while incarcerated. It says that the DOJ has the right to investigate on account of an executive order issued by Trump, titled “Ending the Weaponization of The Federal Government,” which purported to set forth a process to “ensure accountability for the previous administration’s weaponization of the Federal Government against the American people,” according to its description.
“Reasonable concerns have been raised about various aspects of Ms. Peters’ case,” the DOJ statement of interest said. “Parallel to these proceedings and Ms. Peters’ direct appeal, the Department of Justice is reviewing cases across the nation for abuses of the criminal justice process. … This review will include an evaluation of the State of Colorado’s prosecution of Ms. Peters and, in particular, whether the case was ‘oriented more toward inflicting political pain than toward pursuing actual justice or legitimate governmental objectives.’”
Weiser said in Colorado’s response Tuesday that regardless of Peters’ political beliefs or affiliations, she broke the law and should be held accountable.
“Using deception to give an unauthorized person access to voting machines and interfering with established security protocols to conceal her actions is not only a serious breach of the duties with which Ms. Peters was entrusted by her community, but also unquestionably criminal conduct for which any perpetrator would be held accountable,” Weiser said. “In light of the undisputed facts — and the failure of the United States to point to a single fact which supports a politically motivated prosecution — this Court should reject the Statement of Interest.”
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Colin Kalmbacher contributed to this report.
