‘Weak and pathetic’: Trump puts blame on Gov. Polis as Colorado rejects Tina Peters pardon claim

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (KRDO) – President Donald Trump is escalating his fight with Colorado leaders over the fact that former Mesa County Clerk Tina Peters is still behind bars – a week after he claimed he'd pardoned her from state charges.

Last week, Trump posted on Truth Social that he was granting Peters a “full pardon” from her nine-year sentence for tampering with voting machines after the 2020 election. Peters said her actions were intended to prove Trump’s debunked claims of widespread voter fraud.

Peters was convicted by a jury of her peers last year for her role in a data-breach scheme, in which she gave fellow election deniers unauthorized access to voting machines. She's currently serving a nine-year sentence in the La Vista Correctional Facility in Pueblo.

Following Trump's pardon, legal experts and state leaders were quick to point out that a president does not have the legal jurisdiction to pardon an individual from state charges.

READ MORE: ‘Make no mistake, this is a lawless act’: Colorado officials reject Trump’s Tina Peters pardon claim

In a statement to KRDO13, Colorado Gov. Jared Polis sent the following statement to KRDO13:

“Tina Peters was convicted by a jury of her peers, prosecuted by a Republican District Attorney, and in a Republican county of Colorado, 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.  This is a matter for the courts to decide, and we will abide by court orders.”

In an interview on Monday, the president did not hold back his feelings about the fact that Peters was still imprisoned – putting the blame squarely on Colorado Gov. Jared Polis. In his first public statement about Peters since announcing her pardon, Trump called Polis "incompetent" and a "weak and pathetic man."

Trump also doubled down on his election conspiracy claims and statements that Peters was wrongfully convicted.

Here's Pres. Trump's full statement from the Oval Office on Monday:

"Poorly run state of Colorado with a governor who's incompetent, and frankly, with a governor that won't allow our wonderful Tina to come out of a jail, a high-intensity jail, because she caught people cheating on an election. And they said she was cheating, she wasn't cheating. She went over, she looked at one of the election scams going on. And because she did that, they put her in jail for 9 years.

"The governor of Colorado is a weak and pathetic man who was run by Tren de Aragua. The criminals from Venezuela took over sections of Colorado, and he was afraid to do anything, but he puts Tina in jail for 9 years because she caught people cheating. And when she walked over and got involved in it, they said she was cheating. She wasn't cheating, she caught people cheating on the election."

Notably, no evidence of systematic voter fraud has been found in connection with the 2020 election, despite Trump's repeated claims, according to national reports.

For the time being, Peters remains in state custody in Pueblo.

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