Trump demands release of Colorado official sentenced in election data scheme

Former Mesa County clerk Tina Peters is serving a nine-year prison sentence on charges that include conspiracy to commit criminal impersonation.

President Donald Trump is demanding the release of a former Colorado county elections official who was sentenced to prison last year after being found guilty of charges connected to sneaking someone into her office to search for evidence to try to prove Trump’s false claims that the 2020 election was stolen.

“FREE TINA PETERS, a brave and innocent Patriot who has been tortured by Crooked Colorado politicians,” Trump wrote on social media Thursday morning, referring to the former Mesa County clerk serving a nine-year prison sentence on charges that include several counts of attempting to influence a public servant and conspiracy to commit criminal impersonation.

Peters continued to promote baseless claims of election fraud even after she was charged. Colorado officials called Peters’s sentencing “fair and just” and said they hoped it would serve as a warning to others who tried to illegally tamper with the state’s election systems.

On Thursday, Trump threatened unnamed consequences if Peters, 69, was not released from prison, and he furthered his own baseless claims of election fraud.
“Let Tina Peters out of jail, RIGHT NOW. She did nothing wrong, except catching the Democrats cheat in the Election. She is an old woman, and very sick. If she is not released, I am going to take harsh measures!!!” Trump wrote on social media.

It is unclear what action Trump could take. Because Peters was convicted in a state court, he has no clemency power in her case.

In May, Trump said he had ordered the U.S. Justice Department “to take all necessary action to help secure the release” of Peters.
Prosecutors charged Peters in 2022 and accused her of helping to secretly copy Dominion Voting Systems hard drives by sneaking Conan Hayes, a former professional surfer and purported computer expert, into secure areas of her office in 2021 using someone else’s security badge.

Within months, data from her office appeared online and was featured at a symposium held by Mike Lindell, the MyPillow chief executive who continues to trumpet false claims about elections and seeks to end the use of machines that count ballots.

Peters is one of the few officials to face consequences for using their positions in local elections offices to try to promote false claims that took root after Trump’s defeat.

Election experts have cited the breach in Mesa County as a consequence of falsehoods spread about voting systems. Peters has been embraced and championed by many of those who continue to falsely claim that the 2020 presidential election was rigged — including, now, the president himself.

During her sentencing, Peters maintained her innocence.

“I’m not a criminal, and I don’t deserve to go to a prison where other people committed heinous crimes,” she said.

Judge Matthew Barrett, who presided over the sentencing, rejected that view.

“You are no hero, you abused your position, and you’re a charlatan who used and is still using your prior position in office to peddle a snake oil that’s been proven to be a snake oil time and time again,” he remarked before handing down the sentence.