Mesa County Clerk Tina Peters spends campaign cash on Mar-a-Lago trip, movie tickets
Update: Peters flew back to Colorado from the visit to Mar-a-Lago on a private plane, according to a conversation with George Brauchler during his KNUS show on May 19.
Peters commented during the show that she had brought back a bottle of Trump sparkling water from Mar-a-Lago. At approximately 9:21 a.m., Brauchler recounted an off-air conversation he had with Peters in which he asked how she got the bottle past TSA. Brauchler said she told him she had taken a private plane back to Colorado. Peters, who was on the show for another 40 minutes, didn’t deny it. She also did not say whose plane it was.
Tina Peters, the Mesa Country clerk and candidate for Colorado Secretary of State, spent campaign funds on travel to Florida, lodging and tickets to a movie screening at Mar-a-Lago, according to her latest campaign finance filing.
The May 16 filing, as first reported by Colorado Newsline, shows Peters spent $472.88 at a Hilton Hotel in West Palm Beach Florida on May 9. She also purchased 40 tickets, valued at $800, for 2000 Mules, a Dinesh D’Souza documentary alleging fraud in the 2020 election that was screened on May 5 at former President Donald Trump’s resort.
Peters also purchased an airline ticket from United on May 3 for $361.60, although the expenditure does not identify the destination. Another $14.89 was spent at Starbucks, with the expenditures listed as “FL trip” and $26.54 for a Uber ride, also identified as for the Florida trip.
Peters tweeted that she was at the May 5 screening.
What a fantastic night at Mar-A-Largo for the premier of 2000 Mules! Thank you, Dinesh D’Souza, Catherine Engelbrecht, Gregg Phillips, President Trump, and everyone else who made this incredible night!The film will be available online this weekend at 2000Mules dot com. pic.twitter.com/grTvQRqzQ5
— Tina Peters for Colorado Secretary of State (@Tinafor22) May 5, 2022
Colorado’s campaign finance law and a related state-issued manual for candidates states that candidate committees “may not use contributions for personal purposes not reasonably related to the election of the candidate except that a candidate committee may make expenditures to reimburse the candidate for reasonable and necessary child or dependent care expenses the candidate incurs in connection with their campaign during the election cycle.”
Peters already has two campaign finance complaints and three ethics complaints filed against her. The campaign finance complaints are tied to travel and hotel accommodations in South Dakota to participate in a cyber-symposium hosted last August by MyPillow CEO Mike Lindell, who allegedly paid for those expenses, and a legal fund set up on Peters’ behalf that allegedly did not include required disclosures. The ethics complaints are similarly related.
Peters’ campaign has not responded to a request for comment.