President Donald Trump has announced a pardon for former Colorado county clerk Tina Peters, currently serving a nine-year jail sentence for her part in the plot to overturn Joe Biden’s 2020 election win.
However, Trump’s clemency gesture carries no weight, as Peters, 70, was convicted on state charges, not federal charges.
In a post on Truth Social on Thursday evening, the president attacked Democrats for ignoring “Violent and Vicious Crime” and encouraging immigration from “the worst countries so they could rip off American Taxpayers” while failing to address perceived injustices at home.
Turning to Peters, he wrote: “Democrats have been relentless in their targeting of TINA PETERS, a Patriot who simply wanted to make sure that our Elections were Fair and Honest. Tina is sitting in a Colorado prison for the ‘crime’ of demanding Honest Elections. Today I am granting Tina a full Pardon for her attempts to expose Voter Fraud in the Rigged 2020 Presidential Election!”
The commander-in-chief has the authority to issue pardons under Article II, Section 2 of the Constitution. Still, the wording of Clause 1, which outlines those powers, makes clear that clemency can only be granted for “Offenses against the United States,” meaning that state criminal offenses and federal or state civil offenses are exempt.
His announcement was met with derision by Colorado officials, with Gov. Jared Polis, a Democrat, saying in a statement: “Tina Peters was convicted by a jury of her peers, prosecuted by a Republican district attorney and in a Republican county of Colorado and found guilty of violating Colorado state laws including criminal impersonation.
“No president has jurisdiction over state law nor the power to pardon a person for state convictions. This is a matter for the courts to decide, and we will abide by court orders.”
Secretary of State Jena Griswold said in her own statement: “Tina Peters was convicted by a jury of her peers for state crimes in a state court. Trump has no constitutional authority to pardon her. His assault is not just on our democracy, but on states’ rights and the American constitution.”
State Attorney General Phil Weiser added: “One of the most basic principles of our constitution is that states have independent sovereignty and manage our own criminal justice systems without interference from the federal government.
“The idea that a president could pardon someone tried and convicted in state court has no precedent in American law, would be an outrageous departure from what our constitution requires, and will not hold up.”
Peters was convicted in August 2024 of seven out of 10 charges, four of which were felonies, for allowing an associate of MyPillow salesman Mike Lindell to access a secure room to make a copy of a hard drive containing data from the state’s 2020 presidential election results in support of Trump’s false claims of fraud.
Despite repeatedly protesting her innocence, including while guesting on Steve Bannon’s War Room show, Peters was told by District Court Judge Matthew Barrett at her sentencing hearing in October 2024: “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.”
Barrett’s reprimand has not stopped her from becoming a MAGA cause celebre, with Trump himself directing the Department of Justice in May to take action to secure her release, subsequently threatening Colorado with “harsh measures” if Peters was not freed.
The administration requested in November that she be transferred to federal custody, citing concerns for her health, which was not granted.
Peters’ sentence has attracted some alarming rhetoric from her allies, including podcaster Joe Oltmann, who called for the execution of Polis and other state officials over their handling of her case, saying they should “hang by their neck until dead,” and from her own lawyer Peter Ticktin, who said the 101st Airborne should be deployed to bust her out of jail.
On Tuesday, a federal judge rejected Peters’ request that she be released while she continues her appeal against her conviction.
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