Donald Trump issued a fake pardon for Tina Peters, 70, who is serving a nine-year sentence in state prison in Pueblo for felonies related to providing unauthorized access to voting equipment when she was the elected clerk and recorder of Mesa County. But the charges are at the state level, and Colorado Attorney General Phil Weiser said his state will not release Peters after Trump announced he is pardoning her state-level convictions.
"This is a lawless act. It's an act of intimidation," Weiser said. "It has no basis in American law."
Weiser added that Trump's attempt to expand presidential pardon power to state charges is "an off the wall legal theory."
"It's total garbage," Weiser said. "Any lawyer who argues in favor of this should be embarrassed and ashamed."
Still, she persisted.
She is now asking the state appeals court to recognize Trump’s pardon of her state convictions as valid, even though the charges weren't federal.
Via the Associated Press:
In a motion Tuesday, Peters’ lawyers said the Colorado appeals court no longer has jurisdiction over her case because of a Dec. 5 pardon issued by Trump. They also asked the court to release her from prison because of the pardon.
Peters, the former Mesa County, Colorado clerk, was convicted of state crimes there for orchestrating a data breach scheme driven by false claims about voting machine fraud in the 2020 presidential race. Trump’s pardon power does not extend to state crimes.
In the court filing, Peters’ lawyers argued that President George Washington issued pardons to people convicted of both state and federal crimes in the Whiskey Rebellion in 1795. They urged the state appeals court to issue a ruling quickly. The court is set to hear arguments from lawyers in Peters’ appeal of her conviction on Jan. 14.
In 1794, Washington sought to heal divisions through his pardons. Trump is trying to pardon the former Mesa County, Colorado, clerk because she broke the law to help him win. Apples, oranges.
