#joe oltmann

John Knefel at MMFA:

Following her release from prison last month, former Colorado election official Tina Peters has hit the ground running with more than 17 appearances in right-wing media. During her media tour, Peters has spread numerous conspiracy theories about supposed voter fraud and foreign interference in elections, while repeatedly boasting about advising President Donald Trump on how to fix the purported problem. Peters — who was released following commutation of her sentence on charges related to 2020 election conspiracy theories — has claimed that she urged Trump to issue executive orders that could severely curtail voting rights during a White House meeting and argued that Trump should unilaterally ban the use of voting machines and mail-in ballots, actions that would almost certainly be challenged in court.

Peters and her lawyer, Peter Ticktin, met with Trump on June 30, seemingly as part of an emerging plot to subvert the midterm elections. According to CNN, Ticktin, who also claims to be the president’s childhood best friend, is pressing Trump to issue “an executive order to effectively seize federal control of the upcoming midterms by declaring a national emergency based on alleged foreign interference through electronic voting machines,” and is involved in drafting a proposed EO toward that end. Former Trump adviser Steve Bannon, a vocal supporter of Peters, and others on his War Room podcast have spent weeks calling for Trump to take those exact actions.

Peters’ right-wing media tour: “Get rid of the machines” 

Peters, a former Mesa County clerk, looms large among MAGA media figures who deny the results of the 2020 election. Following a pressure campaign by Trump, Colorado’s Democratic Gov. Jared Polis commuted Peters’ nine-year sentence, ostensibly on free speech grounds, a decision publicly opposed by two members of the commutation board. (Polis then fired them for speaking out.) Media Matters found Peters has made at least 17 appearances in right-wing media programs or events since her release on June 1, including an interview that day on Bannon’s show. During a June 24 fundraiser for herself, Peters said that “Trump called me the other day,” and later added: “I believe Trump could sign an executive order to get rid of the machines.”

On an appearance the same day on The Alex Jones Show, Peters reiterated that Trump “called me” and again argued that the president “should do an executive order to ban electronic voting machines across the nation.” She also alleged that “there were parts made in China” in the equipment she’d seen. (There is no public evidence of foreign interference in the 2020 election.) The next day, Peters appeared on the Joel Oltmann Untamed podcast, where she repeated and broadened her recommendation to Trump. “We’ve got to get rid of the machines,” Peters said. “President Trump needs to sign an executive order —”

“And the mail-in ballots,” host Joel Oltmann interjected. “And the mail-in ballots,” Peters agreed, “Saying it’s unconstitutional that these things are allowed to be done. There’s no security threshold when you have foreign agents that have proprietary authority, power, over the things that are used for our most sacred right, which is to vote who we want to represent us.” Peters also said Trump asked her to “get me the info.” On a June 28 appearance on Faith & Freedom, Peters said that “we have to get rid of the machines. The machines don’t have any transparency; they are flipping votes.”

Then on July 2, Peters went on a livestream and described her White House meeting with Trump. “We are, right now, you know, with meeting the president yesterday, giving him a real solution to how to stop what’s happening.” “There is a plan,” Peters said. “Yesterday, when I was with the president, he talked — and I can’t get into the plan — but we talked, he basically said to his lead counsel to do what I was asking.” Peters repeated that read out of her meeting on July 5 in an interview on The Roger Stone Show. “I just met with President Trump, and I told him, I said, sir, Mr. President, we have four months … We are going to lose the election if we don’t get rid of the machines,” Peters said. She added: “We have a plan going forward, I spoke to the president about it, and I’m hopeful that something can be done.” What exactly that “something” is remains to be seen, but the last few weeks have provided some clues, and it looks a lot like what Peters’ own lawyer is advocating.

Alex Kaplan at MMFA:

The New York Times recently reported that a Department of Homeland Security official focused on “election integrity,” appointed by President Donald Trump, has proposed that Trump declare a “national emergency” to “justify dictating new rules to state and local governments” related to voting and elections. The call for a “national emergency” declaration, which Department of Homeland Security official Heather Honey made a few months ahead of her appointment, has also recently been reiterated by right-wing figures and Trump allies known for pushing false claims of widespread election fraud. In interviews and on social media, some of these figures have suggested that Trump use “plenary authority” or claimed to be “encouraging” Trump to declare a national emergency “to make sure that the elections in 2026 are secure.” One of those figures has even claimed to be involved in efforts to craft a related executive order that would affect voting processes.

Trump has issued and threatened executive orders to enact national election policies

In March, Trump issued an executive order of dubious legality to mandate prospective voters provide proof of citizenship when registering to vote. The executive order “calls for the Election Assistance Commission to require people to show government-issued proof of U.S. citizenship to register to vote in federal elections, and directs state or local officials to record and verify the information,” along with “requir[ing] states to count ballots by Election Day.” Legal experts have cast doubt on the executive order’s legality, and a federal judge in June blocked most of the key provisions of the order, writing in a decision that “the Constitution does not grant the president any specific powers over elections.” In August, Trump called for voter ID for “every single vote,” claiming, “I Will Be Doing An Executive Order To That End!!!” [The New York Times, 3/25/25, 3/26/25, 6/13/25, 8/31/25]

Trump official previously suggested Trump can declare a “national emergency” to implement the administration’s preferred election policies nationally

In March, Heather Honey, now DHS’ deputy assistant secretary for election integrity, reportedly “suggested that the new administration could declare a ‘national emergency’ and justify dictating new rules to state and local governments” related to voting and elections. The New York Times reported that during a “call with right-wing activists in March,” Honey suggested a national emergency “could be based on an ‘actual investigation’ of the 2020 election if it showed there had been a ‘manipulation’ of the vote.” “Therefore,” she argued, “we have some additional powers that don’t exist right now” and “can take these other steps without Congress and we can mandate that states do things and so on.” [The New York Times, 10/22/25]

Honey is one of “multiple proponents” of Trump’s 2020 election fraud claims who The New York Times reports Trump elevated “into high-level administration jobs.” Prior to Honey's appointment to DHS in August, she was “a leader” in the “right-wing election activist movement that emerged” after Trump “falsely claimed that his 2020 defeat was the result of widespread fraud.” According to the Times, Honey “echo[ed] rhetoric that has infused” that movement during a call in September with state election officials. [The New York Times, 10/22/25]

Matt Cohen at Democracy Docket:

Prominent right-wing figures are calling for the military to free Tina Peters, the Colorado election-denier-turned-MAGA-folk-hero who’s currently serving a nine-year prison sentence for her role in a 2021 voting system data breach, in a failed attempt to find voter fraud. The escalating rhetoric comes as the Trump administration aims to pressure Colorado officials to transfer Peters to federal custody — and underscores how springing Peters from prison has become a cause celebre among conspiracy-driven far-right activists. During a Nov. 24 interview with Steve Bannon, Peters’ attorney Peter Ticktin suggested that the president send in the military to free Peters from state prison in Colorado.  “Do I think that it should be done?” Ticktin asked. “Yeah. I would love to see that happen.”

“This audience would one million percent back you, back the Justice Department, back the Secretary of War, back the President of the United States if we did this tomorrow morning,” Bannon responded. “And that’s the type of thing it’s going to take [to free Peters].” Ticktin and Bannon aren’t the only conservative figures calling for military intervention to secure Peters’ release. 

[...] Though CDOC refused to transfer Peters to federal custody, Polis (D) has yet to publicly comment on Peters’ status. Since Peters was convicted on state and not federal charges, only Polis has the power to pardon or transfer her. A bipartisan coalition of Colorado county clerks called out Polis for his silence on the issue.  “Polis’ indecision, or his refusal to publicly address the decision, is already causing harm to clerks across Colorado,” Boulder County Clerk Molly Fitzpatrick (R) reportedly said during a recent Zoom press conference.  “The governor welcomes an opportunity to meet with the clerks to hear from them directly and has signed many laws to protect the integrity of our free and fair elections, including increasing penalties for threatening public officials,” a spokesperson for Polis’ office told CBS News.

Alex Kaplan at MMFA:

Joe Oltmann, a major player in the election denial movement, has been collaborating with hosts of a Rumble-based QAnon channel called Badlands Media. Oltmann and his co-host have repeatedly hosted figures from Badlands on their show, Conservative Daily Podcast, and have praised the Rumble channel and its hosts.  At least one of the QAnon hosts also said during an appearance that he would be doing work for Oltmann, and the podcast has launched a spinoff show hosted by some of those QAnon hosts.

Oltmann, a podcaster based in Colorado, has been extensively involved with the election denial movement. That includes instigating a false claim that a specific Dominion Voting Systems employee, Eric Coomer, was involved with the supposed election fraud. In response, Coomer has sued Oltmann for defamation. Oltmann is also the founder of the election denial organization FEC United. Badlands Media, the Rumble channel whose hosts Oltmann is collaborating with, was founded in October by QAnon influencers Jon Herold and Kate Buckley (known online as “Patel Patriot” and “Kate Awakening,” respectively). It features multiple QAnon influencers as hosts and largely dedicates its programming to covering QAnon and related conspiracy theories. The channel is particularly connected to the QAnon influencer collective known as We The Media, with multiple Badlands Media hosts currently or previously involved with the collective.

Between March and the time of publication, Oltmann and his co-host, known as “Apollo,” have hosted at least nine individual Badlands Media hosts on Conservative Daily a total of nearly two dozen times. Alongside Herold and Buckley, that list includes Brad Getz, Zak Paine (who participated in the January 6 insurrection), Brian Lupo (known online as “CannCon”), and other QAnon figures known by their pseudonyms, “Absolute1776,” “Woke Societies,” “Johnny Q,” and “Alpha Warrior.” Befitting of Badlands’ origins, all of those hosts are QAnon supporters.  [...]

Sometimes, Oltmann and Apollo have participated in that discussion. For instance, on March 22, election denier David Clements suggested that QAnon supporters were guilty of “passivity,” before QAnon influencer Absolute1776 urged others “not to be passive” and to get involved in elections, to which Oltmann said that “there are a lot of Anons … that are not … sitting on the sidelines.” On April 6, multiple Badlands Media hosts and Apollo discussed the supposed legitimacy of “Q” (QAnon’s central figure), how the movement “got a lot of people to wake up,” and how some QAnon followers had moved beyond Q. Oltmann has also said that he is also a regular viewer of Badlands Media, and offered to collaborate with it. 

John Knefel at MMFA: 

Despite multiple media outlets – including Fox News – calling the Arizona governor’s race for Democratic nominee Katie Hobbs, Republican Kari Lake has refused to concede, with right-wing media figures pushing her to continue to question the results and possibly mount a legal challenge in court. What any eventual challenge might look like is unclear, but some of Lake’s advisers are reportedly hoping that the vote results could ultimately get close enough to trigger an automatic recount.

[...]

Lake is a close ally of former President Donald Trump and received significant support from those in his circle, including former senior strategist Steve Bannon. Both Trump and Bannon baselessly have now claimed the Arizona midterm elections were fraudulent, a clear echo of their denialist rhetoric following the 2020 election.