Tina Peters dismisses indictment as political theater, vows to keep campaigning

• Peters turned herself into the county jail hours after an arrest warrant was issued Wednesday. She sat there for hours and didn't immediately post bond, the Grand Junction Sentinel reports.
• In an extraordinary move, Colorado GOP chairwoman Kristi Burton Brown called on Peters to suspend her campaign later Wednesday, suggesting it would hurt the party's chances to win in the 2022 election.

Why it matters: Peters, a little-known local elected official, became a national cause célèbre among former President Trump's supporters and conspiracy theorists by falsely claiming she had evidence that 2020 voter records were destroyed.

What she's saying: In a lengthy statement issued by her campaign, Peters called the indictment "a procedural announcement."

• She blamed the Democratic Party for "using legal muscle to indict political opponents" — even though the indictment came from a grand jury convened by a Republican district attorney.
• And she rejected the call to suspend her campaign, saying "knowledgeable Republican voters in this June’s primary will eye roll at these trumped-up charges."

Of note: This is her second arrest in a month's time.

• In February, she was charged with obstructing justice after attempting to kick a police officer executing a search warrant in an unrelated matter.

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