DENVER —
Former President Donald Trump turned himself in Thursday to be booked on charges that he engaged in a criminal conspiracy to overturn the 2020 election results.
Election rigging claims made by Trump, and echoed by some of his 18 indicted co-defendants, were rooted in an unsupported accusation made and amplified by a series of conservative figures and media outlets in Colorado: Joe Oltmann, Randy Corporon, Jenna Ellis, John Eastman, Salem Media’s KNUS-AM, and iHeart’s KHOW-AM.
Douglas County conservative activist Joe Oltmann claimed in November 2020 to have heard an Antifa conference call where an employee of Denver-based Dominion Voting Systems suggested the election was rigged in favor of Joe Biden.
Oltmann, who faces a lawsuit for his claims, has not provided evidence to back up the accusation, which was repeatedly given prominence by conservative talk radio station KNUS in November 2020.
“I think this is a conspiracy to commit fraud against the American people,” Oltmann told KNUS host Peter Boyles on November 18. “This is a massive, massive, massive putting your finger on the scales of the election.”
One of Colorado’s two Republican National Committee members, KNUS host Randy Corporon, said on November 14 that he had “shared some of this Dominion information” with Trump attorney Sidney Powell.
Powell is currently under indictment for the alleged conspiracy to overturn the election.
Within days, Trump’s legal team was publicly attacking Dominion and the employee targeted by Oltmann, election-security specialist Eric Coomer.
Trump attorney and co-defendant Rudy Giuliani claimed at a November 19 press conference that Coomer was “close to Antifa.”
“The man is a vicious, vicious, vicious man.” Giuliani said. “He is completely biased. He’s completely warped and he specifically says that they’re going to fix this election.”
Coomer later sued Giuliani, Powell, Donald J. Trump for President, and others for defamation.
Trump legal advisor Jenna Ellis, a fellow at Colorado Christian University’s Centennial Institute, amplified the unsupported claims against Dominion and suggested the company had rigged elections in Colorado.
Ellis, a frequent guest and guest host on KHOW’s Dan Caplis show, made the accusation without offering evidence during a November 20 interview with Caplis.
“Dan, I’ll kind of break some news here with you,” Ellis said. “We are seeing how Dominion may have swung some of the state and local races in Colorado as well.”
In a successful bid to keep her license to practice law in Colorado in March 2023, Ellis admitted she made false statements about the election. She received a censure and kept her law license.
Ellis currently faces two criminal charges connected to Trump’s latest indictment. She has criticized Trump for not funding the legal defense of his co-defendants.
Ellis agreed to a $100,000 bond. An online fundraising effort promoted by Colorado Christian University leadership and various election deniers raised more than $100,000 before Ellis turned herself in on Wednesday.
Prosecutors say Ellis and University of Colorado-Boulder visiting scholar John Eastman crafted the Trump team’s legal strategy to overturn the election results. Then Vice President Mike Pence refused to carry out the plan. Prosecutors say Trump told Pence he was “too honest.”
Each of the conservative figures involved in launching and promoting the theory that Dominion interfered with the 2020 election remain prominent in Colorado’s Republican political scene.
Jenna Ellis is still a fellow with Colorado Christian University’s Centennial Institute. Ellis has a talk show with Salem Media.
Randy Corporon remains one of Colorado’s RNC committee members and KNUS radio host.
John Eastman is currently an attorney for the Colorado Republican Party in a lawsuit to close the party’s primaries to unaffiliated voters.
Joe Oltmann was nominated for Governor at the 2022 GOP General Assembly by former Colorado House Minority Leader Patrick Neville. Oltmann declined the nomination.
Oltmann is the host of a far-right daily talk show focused on election rigging claims. Oltmann has repeatedly suggested that his perceived political opponents should be executed.
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