Colorado’s conspiracist ex-clerk Tina Peters continues to generate news and controversy, even from behind bars. And while some of these disputes will take place in a courtroom, others are playing out in the online election denier grift-o-sphere. But first, the legal wrangling:
In a minute order issued Wednesday, a federal judge scheduled an April 22 hearing that sets up a showdown between Trump’s Department of Justice and Attorney General Phil Weiser.
The DOJ’s unprecedented “statement of interest” in Peters’ recent bail request, didn’t just use the weight of the federal government to show the Trump administration’s support of Peters’ request, it also warned that the DOJ will investigate her case for “politically motivated prosecution,” despite the fact that she was charged and prosecuted by a fellow Republican.
In a fiery response, Weiser asked Chief Magistrate Judge Scott Varholak to reject the DOJ’s statement of interest, calling it “a grotesque attempt to weaponize the rule of law.” Weiser told the court that he is “unaware of the United States ever filing a statement in a habeas application challenging the State of Colorado’s criminal proceedings,” further noting that “the only interest it has articulated is a political concern wholly inappropriate in this judicial proceeding.”
Judge Varholak wrote that he construed Weiser’s response as a “Motion to Strike” the DOJ’s intervention, and ordered responses from both the DOJ (due March 26) and Colorado (due Apr. 2) prior to the hearing.
But not all the arguments over Peters are of the legal variety. Team members working for two of the same prominent election deniers who celebrated the feds’ intervention, Mike Lindell and Joe Oltmann, are now each claiming that they are Tina’s true benefactor, and more to the point, that those wanting to support Peters in her legal fight should give money to one side but not the other.
Filling in for Oltmann on his Wednesday podcast, co-host Gregory Pappas played a clip of Tina Peters speaking on the phone from jail.
I’ll make a statement and then you can report it,” said Peters. “My statement is, Mike Lindell and Sherronna Bishop, I never had any further contact after May of 2022, after I was indicted. They have not paid my legal bills, and they are not responsible for what’s happening with the DOJ, and they need to stop taking credit for it, period. And [it’s] false advertising- They are collecting money from donors who believe -in good faith- believe it’s coming to support me. It’s not. That’s such a crime. To me, that’s a crime.”
Reached via text, Mike Lindell says that while he hasn’t “personally funded Peters for a couple of years,” his Lindell Offense Fund still pays some of her legal bills, specifically “two of lawyers.”
He also disputed Peters’ claim that they haven’t spoken recently, “I have certainly talked to Tina many times over the past couple years.”
Lindell also pointed out that he gave Peters a place to do her own online show for over a year, and that she made money from that podcast.
Bishop, who works as the executive director of the Lindell Offense Fund (but whom Lindell says doesn’t control the distribution of funds), offered her response yesterday via Facebook post:
“The Lindell Offense Fund has covered the cost of more than 6 law firms for Clerk Peters.
“As of today we still have outstanding bills to the family atty. He is on retainer for Clerk Peters re: her family/husband legal battle. We are in over a million dollars in Tinas’ legal fees and Sandra Brown, Belinda Nisely and even Jerry Wood. In addition to the expenses for Selection Code. We also pay the federal atty for Tinas active CURRENT legal battles on retainer who relies on our other lead attorney who has worked tirelessly and for FREE to defend Clerk Peters for 3 years.
“That’s not considering anything done with her evidence from Mesa County, the experts, witnesses, litigation and fees. That’s an additional million plus and mounting. Does that help?
If you are wanting to take over financial responsibility for all of this plus whatever else we acquire, pls let me know where to send the bills.”
Earlier today Bishop got into a comment fight on her post with Shawn Bentz, mother of Congresswoman Lauren Boebert, in which each accused the other of lying and making money illicitly.
Peters herself publicly referenced her falling-out with Boebert during a 2022 speech to the Constitutional Sheriffs & Peace Officers Association, in which she exhorted the audience not to clap for the Congresswoman, and claimed she knew all about Peters’ actions for which she is now imprisoned.
Meanwhile Oltmann posted the same Peters audio along with his own take on Facebook yesterday as well, blaming Bishop for everything: not only for grifting off Peters’ imprisonment, but for using Lindell to do it and even for Tina’s conviction.
“Sherronna Bishop is not on anyone’s side other than Sherronna,” writes Oltmann. “I do not care if you want to defend her. Stealing from Tina while she is working her defense is indefensible. Trying to create a debt and say ‘we have legal fees…’ NO you do not.
“Fact: Tina would not be in jail had it not been for Sherronna Bishop. There is so much that I know, but what I cannot have happen is money that is meant for Tina going other places.
“Sherronna has not been in contact with the attorneys. They will not talk to her. They are not Mike’s attorneys. Nor did Mike hire them. The reality is Mike is not the grifter. The crew around him are certainly grifters and cheats. Mike is his own worse enemy at times. First it was Dennis Montgomery, then it was Conan Hayes, then…. I have a list and it is long. Unfortunately, cannot save Mike from himself when you have terrible people like this woman doing real harm.
“Now as for what I do. I make sure that Tina is taken care of each month so she does not lose her house or belongings. I am in contact with all of the attorneys. I know exactly who is or is not getting paid and the bills are stacking up while the money is not going to Tina it is going to Kurt Olsen who apparently controls the purse strings.
“Here is Tina in her own words. The reality is Sherronna wants it to be an attack on Mike. It is not an attack on him, it is an attack on the ones walking him off a cliff, like Sherronna did to Tina, and now doing to Mike Lindell. I will repeat, Mike is not the issue…. but people like Sherronna, Dennis Montgomery, Conan Hayes… you name it, they are all connected. The grift crew.”
Reached via email, Bishop, who on Facebook earlier today raised the possibility that Peters was “led into make false statements in the…recording,” offered the following statement:
“I am very concerned about the declining cognitive state of Clerk Peters, in light of Linda Good’s Declaration filed in Court on February 21, 2025. specifically her opinion that: “34. My overall observation is that Ms. Peters is in rapid decline physically and mentally due to her imprisonment.” That is very apparent to me in the comments made by Clerk Peters recently that are not in keeping with her character or my experience with her. It’s upsetting to consider this sentence will see her die in prison. We are asking Governor Jared Polis to please consider mercy. Clerk Peters never had even had a speeding ticket, and many agree who do not support Tina Peters actions, that the sentencing was very harsh given her non-violent, not even a speeding ticket history, her age and declining health.”
