Trump 'pardons' jailed US election denier
Tina Peters, a former official in Colorado's Mesa County, was sentenced in October 2024 for allowing an unauthorized Trump supporter to access confidential voting information several months after the 2020 election won by Democrat Joe Biden.
The man was seeking to prove election fraud as part of a conspiracy theory touted by Trump that the vote was rigged.
"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," Trump said in a post on social media Thursday.
"I am granting Tina a full Pardon for her attempts to expose Voter Fraud in the Rigged 2020 Presidential Election!"
Peters is jailed under state charges, making her ineligible for a presidential pardon. She was sentenced to nine years in prison.
Democratic Colorado Governor Jared Polis criticized the move saying Peters "was convicted by a jury of her peers, prosecuted by a Republican District Attorney, and found guilty of violating Colorado state laws, including criminal impersonation."
"No President has jurisdiction over state law nor the power to pardon a person for state convictions," Polis said in a social media post Thursday.
"This is a matter for the courts to decide, and we will abide by court orders."
Shortly after his inauguration in January, Trump offered pardons to everybody convicted in the Capitol riot of January 6, 2021.