President Donald Trump’s Justice Department is going to bat for an avowed election denier who’s in prison for tampering with Colorado voting machines after the 2020 election.
In a highly unorthodox court filing, senior Justice Department officials encouraged a federal judge to consider releasing former Mesa County clerk Tina Peters from state prison, saying that “reasonable concerns” have been raised about the case and that it’s reviewing whether the state prosecution against Peters was motivated by a desire to inflict “political pain.”
This is the latest example of the Trump administration wielding federal powers to go after the president’s opponents or to rush to support an ally – even though there’s no public evidence of partisan wrongdoing in Peters’ case.
It’s extremely rare for the Justice Department to step into a state case like this, and it’s unclear what federal officials can do to scrutinize a state prosecution of state crimes.
Yaakov Roth, the acting assistant attorney general for DOJ’s Civil Division, submitted a brief in Peters’ federal case saying the Justice Department was concerned about the judge’s comments and the “exceptionally lengthy sentence imposed relative to the conduct at issue.”
Another point of concern for federal prosecutors is whether the decision to deny Peters bail while she appeals her sentence “was arbitrary or unreasonable” under the US Constitution.
Posted by John3262005
4 Comments
The real deep state
Oh look, actual political lawfare
They are broadcasting that they will pardon and reward election tampering. They are removing the risk.
There’s zero chance these people aren’t going to try to steal the midterms. You’d have to be blind and deaf to not see this coming.