Tina Peters, the Colorado election denier who’s currently incarcerated for her role in a voting system data breach, is once again asking a state court to release her, following President Donald Trump’s “pardon.” Also in this week’s Eye On The Right: Far-right podcaster Joe Oltmann is running for Colorado governor, Michigan election deniers are spreading more conspiracies about Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson (D), and more.

As always, thanks for reading. And Happy New Year!

Following Trump’s ‘pardon,’ Tina Peters asks Colorado court to release her

• Tina Peters is once again asking a court to release her from prison. This time around, the Colorado election denier — who is serving a nine-year prison sentence for her role in a voting system data breach — is hoping the Colorado Court of Appeals will grant her release after Trump granted Peters a legally meaningless “pardon” earlier this month.
  
  
• Peters was sentenced on state, not federal charges, which makes Trump’s pardon legally meaningless. But Peters’ lawyers are hoping to convince the court that the pardon does actually have some merit.
  
  
• Should the Colorado Appeals Court reject Peters’ latest effort to be released from prison, her attorney Peter Ticktin reportedly said her legal team could appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court.

Far-right podcaster Joe Oltmann is running for Colorado governor

• Speaking of Peters: One of her biggest supporters, Joe Oltmann — a far-right, anti-semitic podcaster who has called for his political enemies to be executed — announced last week that he’s running for Colorado governor.
  
  
• In announcing his gubernatorial run on Facebook live, Oltmann said that the center of his campaign is a pledge to free Peters. “Tina Peters sits in jail,” Oltmann said. “So my first commitment would be to pardon Tina Peters.”
  
  
• Oltmann has a long history of spreading election conspiracy theories; he was sued for defamation by Dominion Voting Systems and one of its employees and, in July, was ordered by a court to pay $90,000 for refusing to cooperate in the lawsuit. Oltmann eventually settled the lawsuit with both parties.
  
  
• Since then, Oltmann has repeatedly threatened violence against multiple Colorado officials who he said were responsible for Peters’ incarceration.

Michigan election deniers continue to spread conspiracy theories for 2026 election

• Things are getting weird in Michigan as election season is heating up: Tim Vetter, a Michigan anti-voting activist and election denier, posted a long rant a couple weeks ago claiming, without any evidence, that Benson is already rigging the state’s voter rolls so that she’ll win her gubernatorial election in 2026.
  
  
• The claim is obviously BS, but it marks a troubling forecast for what’s already going to be a contentious slate of elections in the Great Lakes State next year.
  
  
• As I previously wrote, Michigan’s GOP lawmakers have targeted Benson’s gubernatorial campaign, planting the seeds of election denialism by investigating false claims of voter fraud in the 2020 election. But now far-right figures are taking it to the next level by falsely accusing Benson of rigging the vote for next year’s midterms.

Jan. 6 pipe bomb suspect said he wanted to ‘speak up’ for election deniers

• Brian Cole, the man accused of planting two pipe bombs near the RNC and DNC headquarters the night before the Jan. 6 riot in 2021, said he did it to “speak up” for people who thought the 2020 election was stolen, according to recent court filings.
  
  
• Cole’s arrest earlier this month brought to a close one of the biggest mysteries from the events of Jan. 6, 2021 — wherein a mob of angry Trump supporters stormed the U.S. Capitol building, leading to several deaths.
  
  
• The lack of any arrests, or suspects, in the years since the pipe bombs were discovered led to endless conspiracy theories by right-wing figures about who was responsible — mostly placing the blame on antifa and other far-left agitators. But Cole, the alleged suspect, reportedly said that he felt “like something was wrong” in the 2020 election and began following discussions on YouTube and Reddit.