Trump pardons jailed ex-Colorado election official Tina Peters, but she was charged in state court

President Trump said Thursday evening that he was pardoning Tina Peters, a former Colorado county clerk who is serving a prison sentence. nine-year state sentence for allowing unauthorized access to voting machines — even though the president’s pardon power is widely understood to apply only to federal crimes.

“Democrats have relentlessly targeted TINA PETERS, a patriot who simply wanted to make sure our elections were fair and honest,” the president claimed on Truth Social, although Peters was continued by an elected Republican prosecutor. “Tina is incarcerated in a Colorado prison for the ‘crime’ of demanding fair elections.”

Mr. Trump claimed that Peters was trying to “expose election fraud” in 2020. The president has long insisted, without evidence, that he lost the 2020 race because of fraud, claims that were unsubstantiated. promoted by Petersformer candidate for Colorado Secretary of State.

Colorado Secretary of State Jena Griswold said in a statement Thursday that “Tina Peters was convicted by a jury of her peers for state crimes in state court. Trump has no constitutional authority to pardon him. His attack is not only on our democracy, but also on states’ rights and the U.S. Constitution. »

“One of the most fundamental principles of our Constitution is that states have independent sovereignty and operate their own criminal justice systems without interference from the federal government,” Colorado Attorney General Phil Weiser said in a separate statement. “The idea that a president could pardon a person 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 stand.”

A former Mesa County clerk, Peters was convicted in state court last year on seven charges, including three counts of attempting to influence a public official and one count of conspiracy to commit criminal identity theft. She was sentenced in October 2024.

Prosecutors alleged that in 2021, Peters and others “designed and executed a deceptive scheme” to cause an unauthorized person to access Mesa County voting machines. Images of the county’s voting equipment were later posted online. Prosecutors said that Peters — who aligned himself with national figures who falsely claimed voting machines were rigged in 2020 — became “obsessed” with alleged voting problems.

At a sentencing hearing late last year, Judge Matthew Barrett called Peters a “charlatan” and “as defiant as a defendant the likes of which this court has ever seen.” Peters has denied any wrongdoing and she insisted before her sentencing that she had “never done anything malicious to break the law.”

Earlier this week, a federal magistrate judge rejected Peters’ request be released while she appeals her conviction.

“Tina Peters was convicted by a jury of her peers, prosecuted by a Republican district attorney and in a Republican county in Colorado, and found guilty of violating Colorado state laws, including criminal impersonation,” Democratic Gov. Jared Polis said in a statement Thursday. “No president has jurisdiction over state law or the authority to pardon any person for state convictions. This is a matter for the courts, and we will respect the orders of the courts.”

Mr. Trump took an interest in Peters’ case, warning in August that he would take “severe action” if she was not released from state custody. The Federal Bureau of Prisons last month asked the state of Colorado to transfer her to a federal facility, arouse reluctance on the part of state representatives and calls on Polis to reject the request.

Meanwhile, a lawyer representing Peters argued in a letter last week that Mr. Trump may have the authority to pardon the former Mesa County clerk.

Under the Constitution, the president’s pardon power applies to “offenses against the United States,” which is almost universally understood to not include state crimes. But Peters’ attorney, Peter Ticktin, advanced a theory that the power could extend to the states. Ticktin acknowledged that the issue “has never been raised in any court.”

In a statement Thursday evening, Ticktin thanked Mr. Trump and argued that Peters “must be released while the issues are resolved,” including while the courts weigh whether she should be released due to the president’s pardon.

“I am greatly grateful to President Trump,” Ticktin said in an email to CBS News. “He has always been true to his beliefs and continues to fight against injustice. God bless our president.”

CBS News has contacted the White House for comment.

Mr. Trump intervened on behalf of those who support his false claims of election fraud. Shortly after his inauguration in January, Mr. Trump offered pardons or commutations to all those convicted of the Capitol riot on January 6, 2021.

The president also obtained his pardon last month to dozens of people accused in state court of trying to overturn his 2020 election defeat, including “alternate state voters” and his former personal attorney Rudy Giuliani.