NEW: Republican Mesa County Clerk Tina Peters is speaking tonight at an FEC United event in Castle Rock alongside founder Joe Oltmann who has called for the mass hanging of political opponents, including Governor Polis. #copolitics
Clerk Peters entered to a thunderous standing ovation from the crowd. FEC United, which has an affiliated militia wing, has collected signed loyalty pledges from a number of elected Republicans in Colorado and was previously led by @cologop chair @ColoradoKbb.
@cologop@ColoradoKbb Tonight's event also features former University of Colorado Boulder visiting conservative scholar John Eastman, who advised the Trump legal team on how to overturn the 2020 election. Eastman has said he will defy a subpoena from the Jan 6 select committee.
State Representative and US Senate candidate Ron Hanks was cheered by the crowd when he said he was present in Washington for Jan 6. Hanks has falsely claimed that Antifa was behind the attack and he urged foreign governments to intervene to prevent the Biden presidency.
Hanks said he's prepared election-related bills for Colorado Republicans to pass once they capture the statehouse majority. "We will prepare the battle space for the next session," Hanks said. "When we hit the majority, they can pull these bills out of archive."
Election rigging conspiracy theorists have claimed that Clerk Peters and Elbert County Clerk Dallas Schroeder are with them. Both have claimed to have made copies of secured voting system files and given them to others. Crowd is asking how many sheriffs are also on board.
"They want to shut me up, persecute me, and harass me and they'll try to do that with anyone who tries to come out with the truth," Peters told the crowd. Peters noted she was wearing the same outfit she was wearing when she turned herself in on a warrant this morning.
Election conspiracy theorist Shawn Smith's threat to Secretary of State @JenaGriswold (D) wasn't very subtle. After the crowd chanted "Lock her up!" Smith said, "I think if you are involved in election fraud then you deserve to hang. Sometimes the old ways are the best ways."
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NEW: A statement from Colorado Secretary of State @JenaGriswold (D) moves closer to taking responsibility for her office's leak of voting machine passwords. "I am regretful for this error," Griswold said in the statement. #copolitics
@JenaGriswold Griswold told 9NEWS last week that only her office was investigating her office's security breach. @GovOfCo Polis (D) called for an outside investigation. Griswold's office now says it has retained "a well-regarded law firm to conduct an outside investigation."
The SOS's office did not name the outside law firm. I've asked. They say Griswold's office "will release any findings as the law permits." Colorado open records law has broad carve-outs that could block the release of most or all of the probe. I've asked if they'll do that.
NEW: @GovofCO Polis (D) announces Colorado will deploy “human capital, air and ground assets, and other logistical support” to help SOS @JenaGriswold (D) change leaked voting system passwords statewide. #copolitics
The password changes and review of logs/video for potential tampering is a process that must occur on-site in impacted county clerk offices. SOS has declined to say how many. Goal is to complete work tonight
Griswold did not inform county election clerks that her office had posted voting machine passwords online for months and did not begin the process of changing the leaked passwords until after the security breach became public.
NEW: Spokesperson for Colorado Secretary of State Jena Griswold (D) confirms that "partial passwords" for Colorado voting systems were inadvertently posted online. The @ColoGOP first flagged the issue. #copolitics
The @ColoGOP says SOS @JenaGriswold (D) must comply with a list of election integrity demands or the GOP will call on county clerks to decertify the impacted voting machines.
@cologop @JenaGriswold SOS Griswold's office says there is no "immediate security threat" because no one could have used the leaked passwords to compromise voting systems unless they obtained physical access to the equipment through ID-badged secure rooms that are video-monitored.
Aurora Fire tells me capacity for the Trump rally is about 10,300. The guy with the clicker at the door says 1,500 entered in the first hour. Two hours until Trump speaks. Imagine it will be packed. I’ll thread updates from the rally here. #copolitics
“Come here! I’m gonna give you a hug. I don’t watch your show. You’re so full of shit.” - Katrena from Kittridge, CO
Mix of cheers and boos as Colorado GOP chairman Dave Williams takes the stage. Williams just turned back an attempt by a faction of the party to replace him over allegations of incompetence and corruption.
NEW: Tina Peters’ sentencing in her election system tampering case has started. I’ll thread details here. Or watch live: #copolitics 9news.com/mobile/article…
Peters’ attorney asks for a sentence of probation instead of prison. Calls the prosecution highly politicized. Not sure how well that will go over with the judge, who wasn’t interested in political speeches during the trial. A pastor is now speaking on Peters’ behalf.
The pastor asks the judge to remand Peters into the custody of his church in California with a promise that she won’t be involved in Colorado politics anymore. Three people who were supposed to speak for Peters haven’t shown up, so now the people are speaking for the prosecution.
NEW: Colorado has a new welcome sign, of sorts. The billboard at the CO-WY state line warning "Venezuela Ahead, Be Prepared!" bears the name of Donald Trump's biggest billionaire megadonor. #copolitics 9news.com/article/news/p…
The billboard says “Paid for by Clipper Properties, LLC, Tim Mellon, Member.” Mellon gave $125M to a pro-Trump super PAC. The NYT describes Mellon as a "reclusive billionaire" whose autobiography said Blacks became "even more belligerent" after the expansion of social programs.
9NEWS has not independently confirmed that the Tim Mellon who paid for the billboard is the conservative megadonor of the same name. The law firm for the LLC hung up the phone repeatedly when Mellon's name was mentioned.