Grand Junction Police Department
Unraveling viral disinformation and explaining where it came from, the harm it's causing, and what we should do about it.
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At one point an officer asked Peters to “stand up like an adult.”Peters responds by telling the officer: “Shut up. What an asshole thing to say to me.”Peters was eventually released but subsequently a warrant for her arrest was issued on misdemeanor charges of obstructing a peace officer and obstructing government operations. On Thursday, she turned herself into the Mesa County Sheriff’s Office where she was released on a $500 bond.Hours later, Peters appeared at an event organized by FEC United, a conservative group that has its own militia wing, called the United America Defense Force. The event, which took place in a church in Castle Rock, Colorado, was called an “emergency town hall” and saw a range of speakers address the crowd, including conspiracy theorist and FEC United founder Joe Oltmann, GOP Senate candidate and State Rep. Ron Hanks, and election conspiracy booster Shawn Smith.
During his speech, Smith blasted Secretary of State Griswold, claiming—without evidence—that he had evidence of criminal election conduct by her. The crowd began chanting “Lock her up” but Smith went further, telling the audience: "You know, if you're involved in election fraud, then you deserve to hang.”
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The comment was met with applause.Griswold, who reported the threat to police, has become a target for Trump supporters as a result of unending conspiracies and baseless allegations leveled against her by Peters and many others in MAGA world.“Usually nothing happens, and it’s very concerning because we're seeing these attacks against secretaries of state, predominantly women,” Griswold told 9News last week.Griswold recently requested $120,000 to hire a private security detail to protect her, and she has advocated changing the law to grant the secretary of state the same Colorado State Patrol protection offered to the governor and lieutenant governor.“We have not been given state patrol coverage that the state of Colorado should provide, and so we have to go to a third party to make sure that I can continue to do my job in a safe atmosphere,” Griswold said.Responding to Peters’ decision to run against her, Griswold tweeted on Monday that Peters “compromised voting equipment, lies about elections, and has embraced dangerous extremism. [She] is unfit to be Secretary of State and a danger to Colorado elections.”Want the best of VICE News straight to your inbox? Sign up here.