Released hours after receiving clemency from Colorado Gov. Jared Polis, convicted former election clerk Tina Peters sat for an interview with Steve Bannon and repeated conspiracy claims about voting machines flipping votes in 2020—claims that courts, audits, a
When Tina Peters walked out of jail Monday after clemency from Colorado Gov. Jared Polis, it did not look like a second chance. It looked like a familiar fight.
Hours after her release, the disgraced former Colorado election clerk sat for an interview with Steve Bannon and returned to the same conspiracy theories that helped land her behind bars.
Mere hours after her release Monday following clemency from Gov. Jared Polis (D-Colo.), Peters proved District Judge Matthew Barrett right. At her sentencing hearing in 2024. Barrett excoriated her for what he said was a lack of remorse during her trial for having tampered with the voting machines she had sworn to secure. “I am convinced you would do it all over again if you could. You’re as defiant as any defendant this court has ever seen. ” Barrett told her when he imposed a nine-year sentence. “You are no hero. You abused your position and you’re a charlatan.”.
In the interview after her release, Peters offered no sign of backing away from her core narrative. “I know that the Democrats are going to cheat. and no one is really addressing the problem that I spent my time in prison as retribution for. ” Peters said. “And that was exposing the election machines that allowed the votes to be flipped.”.
Her claim—that voting machines were tampered with in a way that changed the outcome of the 2020 presidential election—has been thoroughly tested in court and after election officials and investigators looked for proof. Countless lawsuits. audits. and recounts have failed to substantiate or provide even a shred of evidence of any illegal voting activity that would have affected the outcome of the 2020 presidential election. The margin in the presidential race was also clear: Trump lost by more than 7 million votes.
The dispute over the machines did not just play out in lawsuits and court filings. It also triggered major legal consequences for those who helped amplify the allegations. Dominion Voting Systems. one of the companies falsely accused by Trump and his allies. sued Fox News for $1.6 billion for defamation. Fox ultimately settled the suit for $787 million.
Polis’s decision to grant clemency was framed differently. In a letter to Peters explaining his choice, Polis said she appeared to have acknowledged her wrongs. “Importantly, your application demonstrates taking responsibility for your crimes, and a commitment to follow the law going forward,” he wrote. “This commutation will change your future. It is up to you to make the most of this opportunity.”.
But in the hours after she returned to public view, Peters did not describe a pivot toward follow-the-law humility. She described her prison time as retribution and cast her actions as exposing election machinery “that allowed the votes to be flipped.”
Colorado Secretary of State Jena Griswold called the clemency decision a dangerous gamble. Days before Peters’ release, Griswold slammed Polis for what she said would be a lasting effect beyond the case. “This grant of clemency sends a dangerous message,” she wrote in an op-ed. “And it risks leaving a lasting mark. not just on Colorado but on the broader effort to defend free and fair elections. It is more important now than ever that we strongly and ardently protect the nation’s democratic institutions.”.
On paper, Polis said the commutation was a chance for a changed future. In Peters’s first public appearance after leaving jail. she picked up the story that helped bring her conviction in the first place—insisting Democrats would cheat and arguing the only explanation for her sentence was that she had tried to expose machines she said were flipped. The clemency. intended as a reset. arrived into a reality that still looks. at least in Peters’s own words. like refusal to move on.
The sequence is plain: Barrett found no remorse and called her defiant when sentencing her to nine years; Polis granted clemency after writing that her application showed taking responsibility; and hours after release. Peters repeated the conspiracy claims that have repeatedly failed to prove any illegal voting activity that could have changed the 2020 outcome.
Tina Peters Jared Polis Steve Bannon Matthew Barrett Colorado elections voting machines 2020 election Dominion Voting Systems Fox News defamation settlement Jena Griswold
Not surprised she’s back to the same stuff. She basically got a free pass.
Wait so she got clemency and then immediately went on Bannon?? That’s wild. Sounds like the whole point of the justice system is just vibes now.
Isn’t this proof they *wanted* her to be quiet though? Like if there were no flipping then why keep having trials? I’m not saying she’s right but courts can be wrong too, so idk.
I watched enough clips to know they always say “audits failed” like that’s the final word. Meanwhile she’s claiming her machines were tampered with and everyone just moves on. Also Polis giving clemency sounds like politics, like why now, hours later too… seems staged.