May 29, 2025 11:58 AM UTC

‘Despicable!’ Conservative Activists Doubt Sincerity of Boebert’s Belated Support of Tina Peters

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• by: Owen Swallow

(Promoted by Colorado Pols)

Originally posted at the Colorado Times Recorder

‘Free Tina Peters’ has been a rallying cry for the right-wing in Colorado even before Donald Trump’s May 5 post. In the wake of the president’s vehement support, various figures are claiming that they are responsible for the federal government’s attempt to circumvent state law to free the former Mesa County clerk, now convicted felon, revealing the deep fractures among Colorado conservatives, even those who are more closely ideologically aligned. The most prominent and most controversial among them? Predictably, it’s Congresswoman Lauren Boebert (R-Windsor).

Boebert’s relationship with Tina Peters, a former Mesa County clerk and convicted felon, has been well-documented. And while it has had ups and downs to say the least, the two have always shared a belief that the 2020 election was stolen from Trump. However, once the Mesa District Attorney Dan Rubinstein charged Peters with multiple felonies, Boebert released a statement praising his handling of the investigation, including the involvement of the FBI. This infuriated Peters and her supporters, including Boebert’s former campaign manager Sherronna Bishop, who posted that Boebert’s words broke her heart. Earlier this year, Bishop got into a Facebook comment fight with Boebert’s mother, over who truly supports Peters’ cause. The dispute stemmed from a jailhouse recording played by another election denier, Joe Oltmann, on his podcast, of Peters saying she hadn’t received any help from Bishop or her employer, Mike Lindell, since 2022.

As far as the Congresswoman’s statement in support of Peters’ prosecution, however, Boebert has recently changed her tune.

Earlier this month, President Trump directed the Department of Justice, via a social media post, to free Peters. The president referred to Peters as a “political prisoner,” despite her having been prosecuted by a Republican district attorney. Peters was found guilty by a jury in Mesa County, including four felonies, after she facilitated unauthorized access to county voter equipment. Since the crimes Peters was convicted of were at the state level, the federal government cannot directly release her through executive actions, such as pardoning or commutation.

Boebert now claims that she is behind the Trump administration’s attempts to free Tina Peters. Boebert’s recent statements to the media have disgruntled some conservative activists who are accusing the congresswoman of hypocrisy.

Boebert was quick to claim responsibility for Trump’s involvement. Appearing on the Jeff & Bill Show on May 7, she said she had been communicating with the Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigations (FBI), Kash Patel, and Deputy FBI Director Dan Bongino.

“I had been in communications with Kash and Dan Bongino, the deputy director, since they were sworn in,” Boebert told the conservative radio hosts. “But also more than that, I certainly have been talking to President Trump about Tina Peters wasting away in a Colorado jail, given a nine-year — which is almost a life sentence if you think about it.”

Boebert’s recent claims to the media have apparently frustrated stalwart supporters of Peters, like election conspiracist Ashe Epp, who cofounded the U.S. Election Integrity Plan (USEIP), an election fraud conspiracy group which was accused of conducting a voter intimidation campaign. A Denver district judge dismissed the lawsuit last July, and plaintiffs have appealed that ruling.

Epp appeared on The Chuck and Julie Show on May 12, where she and the hosts lambasted Boebert, calling her a hypocrite for ‘remaining silent’ on what they see as Peters’ persecution. One of the hosts asked what Epp thought about Boebert now claiming responsibility for the administration’s recent support of Peters.

“It’s despicable. It’s despicable because there was a severe political cost for people that stood with Tina Peters, for people who stood for election integrity in this state,” Epp said. “If you stood up for election integrity, you were punished and still are, kind of. But for her [Boebert] to allow that praise to be heaped on her while it’s fundamentally untrue… Lauren Boebert was on the side of Ken Buck when it came to our elections, and Ken Buck was out there telling us that we have the safest and most secure, gold-standard elections in the country. Yeah, so it’s a lie.”

The claims Epp has made about Colorado elections being rigged have been proven false, and Epp has offered no new evidence that the 2020 election was rigged against Donald Trump. A state audit of the 2020 election in Colorado confirmed that the tally from voting machines matched how paper ballots were marked.

“The fact that she [Boebert] was in a position to help, as Tina was having a whole [campaign of] government persecution against her. State, federal, and local, all collaborating to ensure a guilty verdict, Lauren Boebert had information and experience,” Epp went on to say. “She was able to speak, she had a relationship with Tina. She was able to speak to her character and what her intentions were, and she was silent. And now… the political calculus is different, and it is politically expedient to support Tina Peters now.”

Both Epp and Boebert take particular umbrage with Secretary of State Jena Griswold, who is now running for attorney general, comparing Peters’ crime of knowingly allowing access to voting machines to unauthorized individuals to the leak of voting machine passwords from Griswold’s office.

CTR reached out to Bishop, Epp, and Lauren Boebert’s office for further comment, but none responded. This article will be updated if and when we hear back from any of them.