Last week the Federal Bureau of Investigation raided the Fulton County Election Hub in Georgia. It was only a matter of time after President Donald Trump took office again before America’s leading law enforcement agency became co-opted to carry out his personal plan to rewrite the 2020 election.
That is exactly what makes flirting with the idea of commuting Tina Peters’ sentence so dangerous.
Trump has never conceded he lost the 2020 election. Throughout his adult life a defining characteristic has been his refusal to admit any loss, no matter how clear the outcome. Instead, he has relied on sheer obstinance to push his own narrative, no matter how far-fetched. Consequently, losing the biggest contest in his life — a reelection campaign for president — could never be accepted.
He does not care about the consequences to anyone or anything else. And the consequences have been dire.
First, Trump and his team attempted to bring legal challenge after legal challenge in the immediate aftermath of the election. But time and again his team failed to provide any evidence that the election had been fraudulent or stolen or in any other way tainted. Absent any hard proof, courts summarily dismissed his attempts to change the outcome.
When that failed, Trump made public appeals for his followers to help “stop the steal.” Much more willing to ignore facts and place unquestioned faith in Trump’s lies, they stormed the U.S. Capitol. While most Americans viewed January 6th as a dark moment due to the violence imposed on police officers and the seat of legislative power, Trump focused on the failure to keep him in power.
Over the next four years he continued his drumbeat. The further America moved from January 6th, the more many Americans chose to accept his account. Of course, they likely would not have believed him alone. If it had been just Trump screaming into the wind, the lies he sowed could not have taken root.
Trump needed a wide network of validators to breathe life into his attacks.
That is where Tina Peters came in. Along with far-right elected officials, Fox News pundits and an army of online conspiracy theorists, Peters set about trying to make Trump’s alternate universe a reality. But unlike others willing to repeat and amplify his lies, Peters found herself in a position to act.
And it is those actions that eventually landed Peters in jail.
In one of Colorado’s most Republican counties, prosecuted by a Republican district attorney, and given years of continuances to put on her case, a jury found her guilty. The case built against her for helping break into the very computers she was sworn to protect proved straightforward despite her protestations. At no point during the trial — and I watched almost every minute — did the result seem in doubt.
But it was what Peters did at sentencing, and has done since, that poses the greatest danger. Peters continued to maintain the lies. She believed her actions, no matter how illegal, were virtuous because they were done to prove Trump’s lies. Not only did she show no remorse, she claimed to be in the right.
While Trump pardoned his loyal, violent insurrectionists tried under federal law, Peters has remained outside his official reach. That has not stopped him from applying as much pressure as possible to secure her freedom. From ordering the Department of (In)Justice to argue on her behalf to letting farming communities continue to drink carcinogenic water, Trump has put a bullseye on Colorado during his retribution tour in no small part to aid one of his most ardent followers.
Peters has provided him with a martyr to rally his followers around.
But letting her out early would prove even more devastating. The FBI gave Trump’s lies the stamp of governmental approval. Never mind that the raid was done at his behest and directed by fellow 2020 election denier Kash Patel. Never mind that the FBI does not have the expertise to review ballots. Never mind that the people who do have reaffirmed the election results over and over.
Trump and his followers now gleefully point to the raid as “proof” that the election was stolen, that massive fraud prevented his reelection. Even before the ballots had been collected, the FBI’s presence made affirmation of the lie a fait accompli.
That is exactly what would happen if an unrepentant Peters’ had her sentence commuted. Trump, Peters and every other conspiracy theorist would crow that justice had been served and she had been freed due to the righteousness of her cause. Furthermore, obtaining the commutation from a Democratic governor would be spun as proof that she had been right the whole time. No matter what Gov. Jared Polis said afterward, the commutation itself would be cast as bipartisan proof.
If Peters’ sentence is commuted, it will hasten the collapse of an already crumbling election system and the democracy supported by its foundation. That is too high a cost.
Mario Nicolais is an attorney and columnist who writes on law enforcement, the legal system, health care and public policy. Follow him on BlueSky: @MarioNicolais.bsky.social.
The Colorado Sun is a nonpartisan news organization, and the opinions of columnists and editorial writers do not reflect the opinions of the newsroom. Read our ethics policy for more on The Sun’s opinion policy. Learn how to submit a column. Reach the opinion editor at opinion@coloradosun.com.
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