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President Donald Trump announced Thursday evening that he has granted a full pardon to Tina Peters, the former Mesa County, Colorado, clerk convicted of state election-tampering charges.
Trump posted the declaration on Truth Social, stating in full:
For years, Democrats ignored Violent and Vicious Crime of all shapes, sizes, colors, and types. Violent Criminals who should have been locked up were allowed to attack again. Democrats were also far too happy to let in the worst from the worst countries so they could rip off American Taxpayers. Democrats only think there is one crime – Not voting for them! Instead of protecting Americans and their Tax Dollars, Democrats chose instead to prosecute anyone they can find that wanted Safe and Secure Elections. 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!
Legal experts and Colorado officials immediately rejected the move.
The president holds no authority to pardon state convictions. Only Gov. Jared Polis (D) can issue clemency in Peters’ case.
A spokesperson for Colorado Secretary of State Jena Griswold declared, "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."
Sen. Michael Bennet, D-CO, wrote on X: “Tina Peters is rightfully in Colorado state prison. Trump’s corrupt and political attempts at a pardon won’t work here."
Peters, 70, began serving a nine-year sentence in October 2024 after a jury convicted her on seven of ten counts, including four felonies, for allowing an unauthorized person to create forensic images of voting equipment in 2021.
Prosecutors said she deceived county employees to grant access.
Her defense insists she acted within her authority to preserve federal election records before a software update.
A Mesa County official told FOX31, "I have yet to hear from a legal expert, who believes that the President has that authority. Ultimately, it will be up to the Executive Director of the Colorado Department of Corrections to determine whether or not to give any effect to that order, and inevitably, it will end up in the courts."
Peters’ appeal, filed in May, argues prosecutors’ own witnesses undermined the case by confirming she held sole authority over access decisions and showed no intent to deceive.
The Colorado Department of Corrections has given no indication it will honor Trump’s announcement.
Another round of lawfare now looms as the nation watches whether presidential pardon can override the Constitution’s limits on federal pardon power.
The republic’s guardrails face their latest stress test, and the deep-state vendetta against election skeptics claims another chapter.
