Disgraced county election clerk Tina Peters has a new ally in the U.S. District of Colorado's office after Attorney General Pam Bondi appointed Peter McNeilly to become the next U.S. attorney on Monday.
McNeilly had previously served as the assistant U.S. attorney for the same office. While the Department of Justice's announcement focuses on McNeilly's work on organized crime, money laundering, and violent criminal cases, McNeilly also played a role in one of the most significant election interference cases from 2020.
McNeilly was part of a Justice Department cadre who filed a Statement of Interest in March concerning Peters's election interference case. In August, Peters was convicted on seven counts, including four felonies, for helping a man illegally access Mesa County election voting machines. She was sentenced to nine years in prison.
The Department of Justice expressed concerns about Peters's lengthy sentence and the First Amendment implications of her case, as well as the decision to deny Peters bail ahead of her sentencing, the Statement of Interest said.
It also cited President Donald Trump's executive order from Jan. 20 titled "Ending the Weaponization of the Federal Government" to claim that Peters's case appears to be "oriented more toward inflicting political pain than toward pursuing actual justice or legitimate governmental objectives."
Colorado Attorney General Phil Weiser vehemently objected to the review and called on the judge to reject the federal government's filing. Weiser claimed it was a "naked, political attempt to threaten or intimidate this Court or the attorneys that prosecuted this matter."
“The United States cites not a single fact to support its baseless allegations that there are any reasonable concerns about Ms. Peters’ prosecution or sentence, or that the prosecution was politically motivated,” Weiser wrote in a response to the Statement of Interest.
