DENVER — Former Mesa County Clerk and 2020 election denier Tina Peters spoke out for the first time since her commutation last week, accusing Colorado Democrats of an election cover-up while defending Gov. Jared Polis for reducing her nine-year prison sentence.
In a post on X, Peters accused state Democrats of putting “a bullseye on a 70-year-old, nonviolent, first-time offender” and said Democrats were attacking Gov. Polis for showing mercy.
Watch previous coverage of the fallout since her commutation here:
“Doesn’t that make you wonder why? It should be obvious to Democrats and Republicans alike that they have something to hide,” Peters wrote. “It is so obvious that they are willing to continue destroying people’s lives to cover it up.”
In her post, Peters thanked the governor “for being willing to stand up in the middle of this persecution and do what he believed was right,” and said a vote to censure him for his decision to commute her sentence “shows just how radical the left has truly become.”
Polis’ decision to grant Peters clemency sparked immediate backlash from Colorado election officials and ignited widespread outrage among state Democrats, who censured him Thursday for inflicting damage they said “materially harmed the party’s institutional credibility and efforts to defend Democratic institutions and election integrity."
Cowing to pressure from President Donald Trump, Democrats said, “sends a message to future bad actors that elected pampering has consequences, unless you're friends with the president. That's a dangerous and disappointing precedent to set."
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Vice President JD Vance says Tina Peters should be compensated
“The Democrats have once again shown that if you do not stay within their party line, they will try to destroy you,” Peters wrote, arguing that the real victims are “every voter who deserves honest, fair and transparent elections.”
Democrats, including Sen. Michael Bennet, responded furiously soon after her post went viral.
“Lawlessness breeds lawlessness and Trump, Vance and Tina Peters are still spreading election-rigging lies,” Bennet wrote.
Her commutation came after a Colorado Court of Appeals judged ruled in April that Peters should be resentenced because her was based, in part, on improper consideration for Peters’ right to free speech.
Peters, who was convicted for orchestrating a security breach of her elections computer system in Mesa County following the 2020 election, will be released from La Vista Correctional Facility in Pueblo on June 1 after Polis granted her clemency on May 15. She had been serving about 19 months of her nine-year prison sentence.
“No matter how hard people like Jenna Griswold and Phil Weiser try to cover up what was done to the people of Colorado, I will keep speaking the truth,” Peters wrote. “If they are this afraid of mercy being shown to one whistleblower, the public should ask what they are still trying so hard to hide.”
Prior coverage:
- Colorado Dems. vote to formally censure Gov. Polis
- Tina Peters found not guilty of assault in prison scuffle, guilty on lesser violation
- 'Lean into that value of mercy': Governor Polis explains consideration of clemency for Tina Peters
- Gov. Jared Polis signals openness to clemency for Tina Peters in X post
- Tina Peters involved in 'incident' with fellow inmate at La Vista Correctional Facility
- Colorado Sec. of State urges Gov. Polis not to pardon Tina Peters after he suggested a potential commutation
- President Trump tells Governor Polis to "rot in hell" over Tina Peters' incarceration
- Tina Peters asks Colorado appeals court to recognize Trump's pardon, release her from prison
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