Donald Trump kicked off New Year’s Eve celebrations with a typically good-natured and measured online message, in which he told a Republican lawmaker to “rot in hell.”
“God Bless Tina Peters, who is now, for two years out of nine, sitting in a Colorado Maximum Security Prison, at the age of 73, and sick, for the “crime” of trying to stop the massive voter fraud that goes on in her State ( where people are leaving in record numbers!),” the president fumed on Truth Social Wednesday.
“Hard to wish her a Happy New Year, but to the Scumbag Governor, and the disgusting “Republican” (RINO!) DA, who did this to her (nothing happens to the Dems and their phony Mail In Ballot System that makes it impossible for a Republican to win an otherwise very winnable State!). I wish them only the worst.
He added: “May they rot in Hell. FREE TINA PETTERS! [sic]”
Peters, a former elections clerk in Mesa County, Colorado, was convicted of state crimes for orchestrating a data breach scheme driven by false claims about voting machine fraud in the 2020 presidential race.
Trump’s “(RINO!) DA” remark appeared to be referring to Dan Rubinstein, the Republican district attorney in Colorado’s 21st judicial district, who prosecuted Peters’ case. His “Scumbag” comment apparently refers to Colorado’s Democratic Governor Jared Polis.
The president’s fiery post comes after he issued a presidential pardon to Peters on December 5, despite his pardon power not extending to state crimes.
However, last week lawyers for the former clerk begged a judge to recognize the pardon, arguing that the Colorado appeals court no longer has jurisdiction over her case. They also asked the court to release her from prison because of the pardon.
The appeals court subsequently ruled that lawyers from the state attorney general’s office, which is defending the conviction, could respond to Peters’ arguments by January 8.
Peters claims that the state judge who sentenced her to nine years behind bars violated her First Amendment rights by punishing her for making allegations about election fraud.
During her October 2024 sentencing, Judge Matthew Barrett called Peters a “charlatan” and said she posed a danger to the community for spreading lies about voting and undermining the democratic process.
Peters was unapologetic and insisted that everything she did was geared toward trying to uproot what she believed was fraud. She claimed her actions were done for the greater good.
Peters was convicted of allowing a man to misuse a security card to access the election system and being deceptive about that person’s identity. The man was affiliated with MyPillow chief executive Mike Lindell, a prominent promoter of false claims that voting machines were manipulated to steal the election from Trump.
