President Donald Trump said Thursday night that he is pardoning Tina Peters, a former county clerk in Colorado who has promoted false claims about the 2020 election and was convicted last year in connection with a voting system's security breach.
Trump's pardon is largely symbolic since Peters, who is now in prison, was convicted of state crimes, which are not shielded by presidential pardon powers.
“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,” Trump wrote on Truth Social.
“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!” he added.
Peters was convicted last year of four felony and three misdemeanor charges in connection with the breach in Mesa County. She was sentenced to nine years in prison.
The Associated Press reported Monday that a federal judge turned down Peters’ request to leave prison while she appeals her conviction.
In a statement after Trump's post, Colorado Attorney General Phil Weiser said, “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 connection with using another person’s security badge to allow someone associated with MyPillow founder Mike Lindell, a prominent election denier and Trump ally, access to county election equipment involving Dominion Voting Systems.
Earlier Thursday, Lindell announced that he will run for governor of Minnesota next year.
Trump last month offered similarly symbolic pardons to his former attorney Rudy Giuliani and 76 other people who have been tied to efforts to overturn the 2020 presidential election results, including attorneys Sidney Powell, John Eastman and Kenneth Chesebro, as well as his former chief of staff Mark Meadows.
