Colorado county election officials indicted by grand jury in security breach investigation

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By Jeremy Harlan, CNN

Tina Peters, the county clerk in Mesa County, Colorado, and her deputy clerk, Belinda Knisley, have been indicted by a county grand jury stemming from an election security breach investigation by local authorities.

District Attorney Dan Rubinstein announced Wednesday morning that Peters faces 10 counts, including three felony counts of attempting to influence a public servant, two felony counts of conspiracy to commit criminal impersonation, one felony count of identity theft, and misdemeanor counts for first-degree official misconduct, violation of duty and failing to comply with requirements of the Colorado secretary of state.

Knisley faces six counts, including three felony counts of attempting to influence a public servant, one felony count of conspiracy to commit criminal impersonation, and misdemeanor counts for violation of duty and failing to comply with the requirements of the secretary of state.

Warrants were issued for Peters’ and Knisley’s arrests. Both of their bonds were set at $500,000 cash only. The Mesa County Sheriff’s Office said in an emailed statement Wednesday evening that Peters had turned herself in to the Mesa County Detention Facility. Knisley has been booked into the Mesa County Jail, according to sheriff’s office spokesperson Megan Terlecky.

“Yesterday, the Mesa County grand jury returned an indictment after the presentation of evidence in an ongoing investigation into the alleged election system breach in Mesa County,” Rubinstein and Colorado Attorney General Phil Weiser said in a statement. “The grand jury, randomly selected from the same pool of citizens that elected Clerk Tina Peters and chosen months before any of these alleged offenses occurred, concluded there is probable cause that Clerk Peters and Deputy Clerk Knisley committed crimes.”

Peters, a pro-Trump Republican running for Colorado secretary of state this year, has publicly asserted that the investigation was partisan and politically motivated. In a statement on her campaign website Wednesday, she said the grand jury indictment was “one of the last cards the Democrats have to play here.”

“Using legal muscle to indict political opponents during an election isn’t new strategy, but it’s easier to execute when you have a district attorney who despises President Trump and any constitutional conservative like myself who continues to demand all election evidence be made available to the public,” she said.

CNN has reached out to attorneys for Peters and Knisley for comment on the indictments.

A district judge set new bond terms for the women Thursday after hearing arguments from Rubenstein and their attorneys. Peters’ bond was set as a $25,000 cash surety bond that must be paid by her and not a third party. She is not allowed to have contact with Knisley, the victims mentioned in her felony indictment or any employee in the Mesa County Clerk and Recorder office. She also must turn over her passport and must seek the court’s permission before traveling outside Colorado.

The judge set Knisley’s personal recognizance bond at $10,000. She also is not allowed to have contact with Peters, the alleged victims or employees in the Clerk and Recorder Office, except for a family member who works in the office.

The sheriff’s office confirmed Thursday that Knisley and Peters had been released on bond.

Both women are scheduled to be arraigned on May 24.

The criminal investigation into the clerk’s office began after Colorado Secretary of State Jena Griswold, a Democrat, accused Peters and her deputies of facilitating a security breach in May. The breach resulted in confidential voting machine logins, and forensic images of their hard drives, being published in a QAnon-affiliated Telegram channel in early August 2021, according to previous CNN reporting.

Beginning in April 2021, according to the indictment, in advance of a May 25-26, 2021, trusted build of voting machines, Peters and Knisley “devised and executed a deceptive scheme” to influence public servants, breach security protocols, exceed permissible access to voting equipment, and set in motion the eventual distribution of confidential information to unauthorized people. A “trusted build” is “the origin of the chain-of-custody for any software and firmware component of the voting system,” according to the indictment.

In a statement released after the indictment, Griswold said Peters’ actions “constituted one of the nation’s first insider threats where an official, elected to uphold free, fair, and secure selections risked the integrity of the election system in an effort to prove unfounded conspiracy theories.

“Every eligible Coloradan — Republican, Democrat, and Unaffiliated alike — has the right to make their voice heard in safe, accessible, and secure elections,” added Griswold. “To do that, we need election administrators who are committed to following the law and election rules. Officials tasked with carrying out elections do so in public trust and must be held accountable when they abuse their power or position.”

On Friday, Peters is scheduled to appear in a Mesa County court on two separate charges of obstructing a peace officer and obstructing government operations when she was arrested by Grand Junction police at a local business in early February.

This story has been updated with additional developments Thursday.

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CNN’s Paul Murphy contributed to this report.