Local district attorney's office executes search warrant in Peters' office
The 21st Judicial District Attorney’s Office executed a search warrant Tuesday of the Mesa County Clerk and Recorder’s Office in pursuit of evidence in a possible breach of elections security, District Attorney Dan Rubinstein confirmed Wednesday.
That warrant was carried out at the same time that five employees of the Colorado Secretary of State’s Office also were inspecting the county’s election equipment and viewing other relevant documents as part of a state order issued Monday into a possible breach of election security protocols.
That breach, if proven, could lead to a felony criminal charge.
Rubinstein, who also confirmed that his office has original jurisdiction in the matter, said he first learned of the state probe early Monday, and assigned an investigator almost immediately to look into it.
“He is the investigator that handles all of my election-related investigations,” Rubinstein said. “He obtained a search warrant for the Clerk and Recorder’s Office, and was present to conduct our investigation into criminal matters at the same time that the Secretary of State’s team was looking into their security/policy/protocol maters.”
Despite Clerk Tina Peters claims at a South Dakota conference aimed at gathering and presenting evidence that the 2020 elections were rigged, where she said her deputy, Belinda Knisley, wasn’t allowed to be present, the Secretary of State’s Office said its team was accompanied at all times by Mesa County officials.
The state’s inspections were needed, in part, because Peters failed to comply with the first part of Secretary of State Jena Griswold’s order, nor did she provide any requested information.
“(Monday) I ordered the Mesa County clerk and recorder to comply with inspection of election equipment, video footage and other documents in the county,” Griswold said. “The clerk’s office must prove that chain of custody remains intact and that there has been no unauthorized access to voting equipment in the county.”
That is suspected to have happened when Peters allowed an unknown man, whom she identified at the symposium Wednesday as an employee of Dominion Voting Systems, into a secure area that is restricted only to authorized elections personnel who have passed criminal history background checks.
Authorities are attempting to identify that man, who sources have named as Gerald Wood.
That symposium, at which Peters made a surprise appearance late Tuesday and is to reveal more information later today, is led by Mike Lindell, also known as the My Pillow Guy. Lindell is a fervent supporter of former President Donald Trump, and has repeatedly claimed to have evidence that his re-election was stolen, but to date has not done so.
Meanwhile, the Mesa County Board of Commissioners met in an executive session early Wednesday to discuss legal issues surrounding the investigations, meetings they legally can hold under Colorado Open Meetings laws. The board has slated two other behind-closed-doors session with its legal counsel for today and Friday.
“We scheduled the executive sessions as a place holder, because things are moving so quickly,” Commissioner Janet Rowland said. “We may or may not meet (today) or Friday, but if something hits overnight, we don’t want to have to wait until Friday morning to be briefed.”
One of the things that could happen is a civil lawsuit from Dominion, which has filed several multi-billion dollar suits around the nation against attorneys with close ties to Trump and conservative media outlets.
This week, the Denver-based company filed a $1.6 billion lawsuit against Newsmax Media Inc. and One America News Network, two far-right media outlets that have often repeated false allegations that Dominion somehow helped rig the election.
“Dominion is fully cooperating with authorities on this (Mesa County) matter,” a Dominion spokesperson told The Daily Sentinel on Wednesday.
Those Dominion machines, which have been in use in most Colorado counties and elsewhere in the nation for years, also were used in the election of Republicans and Democrats in numerous down-ticket races, including last year’s elections that saw Silt resident Lauren Boebert get into Congress. None of those races are being called “rigged.”
County officials also are concerned that if Peters doesn’t fully comply with Griswold’s order, the Secretary of State’s Office will make good its threat to decertify the county’s election equipment, which could cost the county thousands of dollar to replace or re-certify.
The order also would call for Peters’ office to pay back hundreds of thousands of dollars it and other elections offices received nationwide to deal with the COVID-19 pandemic.
To date, Peters’ office has received nearly $170,000 in federal COVID money.
Rowland, along with Commissioners Cody Davis and Scott McInnis, said none of them are, at this time, considering asking Peters to resign her position.
“I am not considering asking Tina to resign,” Rowland said, a statement which both Davis and McInnis said they agreed. “I’m an ‘innocent-until-proven-guilty’ kinda gal, so I’ll withhold judgment.”
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