Overview
- Trump posted on Truth Social that he was granting a full pardon to former Mesa County Clerk Tina Peters, who is imprisoned for an election-system breach.
- Peters, 70, was convicted in Colorado state court on multiple charges tied to unauthorized access to voting equipment and is serving a roughly nine-year sentence in Pueblo.
- Colorado Gov. Jared Polis, Attorney General Phil Weiser, and Secretary of State Jena Griswold said a president cannot pardon state crimes and that only state processes can alter her case.
- As of Thursday evening, no formal pardon document appeared on the Justice Department’s Office of the Pardon Attorney site, and legal scholars described the move as without precedent over state convictions.
- Earlier this week a federal judge declined to release Peters during her state appeal, as the DOJ’s reviews and a Bureau of Prisons transfer request have not changed her status in state custody.