‘It’s an Act of Intimidation’: Colorado AG Pummels Trump’s ‘Pardon’ of Former Election Clerk Convicted in State Court

KUSA-Denver

Colorado Attorney General Phil Weiser (D) did not mince words when asked about the “pardon” that President Donald Trump issued on Thursday night.

Writing on Truth Social, the president announced a “full Pardon” for Tina Peters, a Trump supporter and former Mesa County clerk. But Peters was found guilty in state court, which means her conviction is beyond the scope of the president’s pardon powers.

After the 2020 election, Peters allowed an authorized person to access the county’s voting machines and gather county passwords and proprietary information about the machines. Like Trump, Peters peddled conspiracy theories about the 2020 election being rigged against him. Last year, she was sentenced to nine years in prison after being convicted of tampering with voting machines.

“Tina is sitting in a Colorado prison for the ‘crime’ of demanding Honest Elections, the president wrote. “Today I am granting Tina a full Pardon for her attempts to expose Voter Fraud in the Rigged 2020 Presidential Election!”

Shortly afterward, Weiser appeared on KUSA, the NBC affiliate in Denver, where he made clear that the president does not have clemency powers when it comes to state offenses.

“Will this work?” asked Kyle Peters, host of Next. “Will President Trump’s pardon actually free Tina Peters?”

The attorney general appeared borderline annoyed that he had to answer such a question:

No. This is a lawless act. It’s an act of intimidation. It has no basis in American law. Our system of government gives states authority to run their own criminal justice systems. As you noted, there was a trial. There was a conviction by a jury. There’s an appeal to the state courts. All that is happening under the rule of law. This president doesn’t respect the rule of law. But he doesn’t have authority to undermine how we operate our judicial system here in Colorado.

The Constitution addresses clemency powers in Article II, and gives the president the authority to grant pardons and commutations for “Offenses against the United States.”

On Tuesday, a U.S. magistrate judge denied Peters’ petition to be released from prison.