A judge has sentenced a former Colorado county clerk to nine years in prison on Thursday for orchestrating a voting system data breach scheme which was fueled by widespread false claims of fraud altering the 2020 presidential election results.
Tina Peters, who was once celebrated by election deniers, was accused of using another person's security badge to allow access to the Mesa County election system for an expert linked to Mike Lindell, the CEO of My Pillow. She is also accused of misleading other officials about the expert's identity. Lindell is a well-known advocate of the baseless theory that voting machines were tampered with to steal the election from Trump.
Sentenced for Fraudulent Voting
Judge Matthew Barrett issued the sentence after jurors found Tina Peters guilty in August for allowing a man to misuse a security card to gain access to the Mesa County election system and for lying about the individual's identity.
The man was linked to My Pillow CEO Mike Lindell, a well-known advocate of the false claims that voting machines were rigged to steal the election from Donald Trump.
During the trial, prosecutors argued that Peters, a Republican, was seeking attention and became "obsessed" with election issues after aligning with individuals who doubted the accuracy of the 2020 presidential results.
Once a celebrated figure among election deniers, Peters has remained unapologetic about her actions.
Did Trump Lie?
Special counsel Jack Smith revealed new details of former President Donald Trump and his associates' extensive and "increasingly desperate" attempts to overturn the 2020 election results in a major court filing on Wednesday.
The document was aimed at defending Smith's prosecution of Trump following the Supreme Court's July ruling on immunity.
Prosecutors claimed that Trump knowingly lied to the public, state election officials, and even his own vice president in an effort to stay in power after losing the election.
Meanwhile, behind closed doors, he reportedly dismissed some of the election fraud claims as "crazy." This was outlined in the 165-page filing.
"When the defendant lost the 2020 presidential election, he resorted to crimes to try to stay in office," the filing said. "With private co-conspirators, the defendant launched a series of increasingly desperate plans to overturn the legitimate election results in seven states that he had lost."
Prosecutors claim that after Trump's legal attempts and the use of fraudulent electors failed to change the election outcome, he incited violence. They described him as directly responsible for "the tinderbox that he deliberately set aflame on January 6."
