Yes.
Vice President JD Vance recently told reporters he thought it was “reasonable” that Tina Peters “get some compensation” from the taxpayer-supported Anti-Weaponization Fund, incorrectly saying she was only guilty of trespassing.
A jury convicted Peters, the former Mesa County clerk, of four felonies and three misdemeanors in 2024 for orchestrating a security breach of Mesa County’s election system in a failed bid to find evidence of voter fraud.
President Donald Trump has repeatedly called on Gov. Jared Polis to release Peters. Trump later withheld federal funding for Colorado water infrastructure, after vowing to take “harsh measures” against the state if she wasn’t released. Polis commuted her nine-year sentence May 15.
The Anti-Weaponization Fund is drawing $1.776 billion from the Treasury Department’s Judgment Fund as part of a private settlement between Trump and the IRS. The new fund’s stated purpose is to pay people who’ve “suffered weaponization and lawfare.”
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Sources
- The White House Vice President JD Vance briefs members of the media
- The Colorado Sun Colorado governor cuts Tina Peter’s prison sentence in half
- Axios How Trump’s $1.8 billion “anti-weaponization” fund works
- Bureau of the Fiscal Service Judgment Fund
- Denver7 Trump tells Governor Polis to “rot in hell” over Tina Peters’ incarceration
- Colorado Newsline Trump threatens “harsh measures” in another call for Tina Peters’ release