Colorado Rep. Lauren Boebert doesn't think Tina Peters should get a payout from the federal government

A judge has stopped, at least for now, the Justice Department from moving forward with the new $1.776 billion "anti-weaponization fund." Congress created the fund as part of a settlement of President Trump's civil lawsuit against the Internal Revenue Service. The Justice Department says people who feel that they were unfairly targeted by the Biden administration could apply for payments.

The judge wants more time to consider a legal challenge from a group of plaintiffs over the fund. Several nonprofit groups, along with a former federal prosecutor and a college professor, filed a lawsuit arguing the fund is a "collusive agreement" between the president and his administration.

A spokesperson for the Justice Department says it remains confident in the fund's legality.

Vice President JD Vance says Tina Peters, a former county clerk in western Colorado, could receive money from that fund. Peters is set to be released from prison on Monday after Gov. Jared Polis commuted her sentence earlier this month.

Republican Congresswoman Lauren Boebert is among those who had been pushing for her release. Before she switched districts in the last election cycle, Boebert represented the Colorado congressional district Peters was a clerk in. She feels Peters was unjustly prosecuted. She feels that both the charges and the sentence were unfair, and she would have liked to have seen her pardoned.

Boebert doesn't agree with Vance's position that Peters should get a payout from the federal government, however.

Peters was convicted in 2024 for her role in tampering with election equipment and sentenced to nine years in prison. Vance said Peters deserves a payout from the "anti-weaponization fund," but Boebert says Peters was convicted of state charges, and she believes the fund is only for those who have been the subject of unwarranted investigations or prosecutions at the federal level.

"I'd have to look at the fine print on this DOJ fund," Boebert said. "I would automatically come out and say that this should be funds for people who were wronged by the federal government, and the state probably should rectify anything that they've done with their citizens."

Peters will be released after serving less than two years of her nine-year sentence. Her attorneys have now appealed her conviction to the Colorado Supreme Court.