Trump Pardons Colorado Elections Clerk; State Rejects

President Donald Trump announced on Thursday that he was granting a full pardon to Tina Peters, a former elections clerk in Mesa County, Colorado, who is serving a nine-year state prison sentence for tampering with voting equipment. Colorado officials immediately rejected the move, stating that the president's authority does not extend to state convictions.

Peters, 70, was convicted in August 2024 by a jury in Grand Junction on multiple felony charges stemming from a 2021 breach of secure election systems. Prosecutors said she allowed an unauthorized individual, a Trump supporter, into a restricted room housing voting machines and directed staff to disable surveillance cameras. The outsider then copied data from the machines in an effort to support unsubstantiated claims that the 2020 presidential election had been rigged against Trump. The charges included three counts of attempting to influence a public servant, one count of conspiracy to commit criminal impersonation, first-degree official misconduct, violation of duty, and failing to comply with the secretary of state.

She was sentenced in October 2024 and is currently incarcerated at the La Vista Correctional Facility...