NEDERLAND — Colorado has been on President Donald J. Trump’s radar as of late, as he has taken to posting veiled threats and calling Governor Jared Polis “SLEAZEBAG” on Truth Social, Wednesday, December 3, 2025, over the state’s refusal to release convicted felon Tina Peters into federal custody.

Shortly following murmurs made by U.S. Pardon Attorney Ed Martin on Steve Bannon’s podcast about the Department of Justice’s plans to “fight” for Peters, the Federal Bureau of Prisons —at the behest of Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche— issued a notice to the Colorado Department of Corrections on November 12, calling for Peters’ transfer from La Vista Correctional Facility in Pueblo to a federal facility.  

The plot

Peters, the former Mesa County Clerk, was convicted in August of 2024 of three counts of attempting to influence a public servant, one count of conspiracy to commit criminal impersonation, one count of official misconduct, and one count of failure to comply with the Secretary of State. She was sentenced to eight years and nine months. 

Due to her belief in the popular conspiracy theory of vote rigging surrounding the 2020 election, Peters abused her position as a public official and enacted a plot in 2021 to copy and distribute Mesa County’s election system data in an effort to uncover alleged election fraud. 

Peters’ plot involved influencing deputy clerk Belinda Knisley, obtaining security credentials under false pretenses, disabling her office’s security cameras, and allowing an unauthorized person (QAnon conspiracy theorist Conan Hayes) access to the secure room where data from, and regarding, the county’s Dominion Voting Systems was stolen.    

That data, which included sensitive government passwords, was released online by Ron Watkins, another prominent figure among QAnon believers, and was rumored to be released during a “Cyber Symposium” hosted in South Dakota by MyPillow CEO Mike Lindell, which Peters had attended while under investigation. 

Lindell, at that time, had become a major voice decrying the use of Dominion Voting Systems, and led a conspiracy-fueled smear campaign against Dominion for several years. As a result, Lindell has had to pay former Dominion executive Eric Coomer $2.3 million for defamation, and a $1.3 million lawsuit by Dominion against Lindell is still pending today.

Additionally, after issuing an open challenge to anyone to disprove his theory about 2020 election fraud, Lindell was legally forced to pay $5 million to software engineer Robert Zeidman for successfully debunking his conspiracy.  

The actions by Peters back in 2021 resulted in Dominion systems being decertified for use in Mesa County. As the investigation by Colorado Secretary of State Jena Griswold was underway, Peters’ authority to oversee any future elections was stripped, and she temporarily fled to Texas with Lindell, who then moved her to another “safe house” after a member of his security team revealed her location. 

Lindell claimed that he was protecting her from the “ruthless” people at Dominion Voting Systems, insinuating that Peters was in danger. 

Trial against Peters

Throughout the investigation, during her trial, and continuing on through appeals and to the current day, Peters has maintained her belief that the 2020 presidential election was rigged against Trump and that her abuse of power is therefore justified. 

While under investigation, Peters stated that she was acting on behalf of the citizens of Mesa County, who had raised concerns about election integrity. As the case gained traction and reached mainstream media coverage, Peters began to be painted as a Republican folk hero. 

“Something didn’t seem right in our county from years ago to the 2020 election, and they wanted answers,” Peters said at Lindell’s 2021 Cyber Symposium, referencing again how her actions were in service to the people. At that event she called Mesa County “the last bastion of freedom” in Colorado.

As the trial began, the Colorado Republican Party released an email urging support for Peters, asking constituents to “keep Tina Peters in your thoughts and prayers as she stands trial for fighting for election integrity.” 

“Tina is being persecuted and prosecuted by a weaponized judicial system and is now fighting for her freedom,” the email reads. 

Local activist groups planned events all over the state to garner support for Peters, including at a Baptist church in Grand Junction, where a screening of a documentary about election denier David Clements, titled Let My People Go, was held and even attended by Lindell.  

Clements was to be called as a witness for Peters’ trial, however he was not allowed to take the stand for undisclosed reasons, though Judge Matthew Barrett had reiterated to Peters’ defense attorneys that the case was not about election fraud.  

Prosecutors called out the defense several times during the trial for violating the court’s pretrial order by continuing to discuss, or ask questions regarding, the validity of Dominion Voting Systems and the results of Grand Junction’s 2021 municipal election, which supposedly serves as the impetus for Peters’ conspiracy surrounding the voting machines.

Mesa County’s District Attorney Dan Rubinstein conducted an investigation in 2022 into one of three different reports made by Peters’ supporters alleging criminal conduct in the “unauthorized and illegal manipulation of tabulated vote data during the 2020 General Election and 2021 Grand Junction Municipal Election.”

The report, submitted by Representative Lauren Boebert’s former campaign manager Sherronna Bishop and Mesa County resident Cory Anderson, alleged that anomalies occurred during both elections which resulted in a second database of tabulated votes being created and potentially manipulated.

Rubinstein’s investigation into the report uncovered that the anomalies in question were caused by human error, specifically by Sandra Brown, the Elections Manager for Mesa County. Rubinstein’s official report states that Brown was not malicious in her actions, but was found to have taken “extreme measures” in an attempt to troubleshoot and rectify the mistake. 

Brown and Peters, though both named in Rubinstein’s investigation, declined to be interviewed for it; Brown was later fired from Mesa County, while Peters, riding on the wave of “folk hero” status, ran for Secretary of State in Colorado. 

During her campaign, at a Republican convention in Parker, Peters loudly proclaimed, “there’s no way a jury of 12 people is going to put me in prison.” 

Peters lost the Republican primary election in June of 2022, and in October of 2024 she received her sentencing. After hearing Peters’ pleas for leniency and justification for her actions in her final testimony, Judge Barrett stated: “I am convinced you would do it all over again if you could. You’re as defiant as any defendant this court has ever seen. You are no hero. You abused your position, and you’re a charlatan.”

Judge Barrett’s words echo those of Matt Crane, Executive Director of the Colorado County Clerks Association, who explained Peters’ actions —years before her conviction— as “solo, intentional, and selfish.”

“We've heard people say that this is heroic. To be clear. There is nothing heroic or honorable about what happened in Mesa County," Crane said.

Call for release

In conjunction with the Federal Bureau of Prisons’ notice calling for the release of Peters into federal custody, Attorney John Case and members of her legal team submitted to federal court a filing requesting the immediate “emergency” release of the 70-year old from prison due to her declining health.

The filing describes Peters as having a concerning pale complexion after her one-year stint at La Vista Correctional Facility, as well as having a persistent cough as a result of the prison’s heating system emitting dust. It also alleges that there is black mold in the shower rooms. 

The attorneys also requested that Peters remain released on bond while her current state appeal is pending.

Peters’ age and health have been key factors to her supporters' arguments regarding leniency to her sentence. Trump himself, in his Truth Social post lambasting Polis, stated his opinion that, in addition to her being convicted for “preserving election records,” she was also a cancer survivor, and that Polis should be “ashamed of himself.” 

With Peters having been convicted by the state, President Trump has no authority to pardon her, as he has done with nearly all of his federally-convicted loyalists. Pressure from the Trump Administration is now mounted against Colorado, and the demand for her release into federal custody is increasing. 

Tina Peters’ Attorney Peter Ticktin endorsed on Steve Bannon’s podcast the right-wing demand for military action to be used against Colorado for her liberation. Many far-right representatives have called for such intervention from the President by use of the National Guard, and Colorado entrepreneur and podcast host Joe Oltmann has openly labeled all authorities involved in Peters’ conviction as “traitors.”

Oltmann and his FEC United group were present at the documentary screening in support of Peters at that Baptist church in Grand Junction. At that meeting, in regards to Peters’ pending incarceration, he was reported to state: ““Let’s go get our guns. We have to have a target. The time is coming when good people will have to do bad things to bad people. There’s a sacrifice to be made.” 

"justice is not for sale"

Despite the threats and incitement, and even the calls from Colorado Republicans to have federal funding withheld from their own state until Peters is released, Polis has remained constant on his message that “justice is not for sale,” though many believe that Polis has not been aggressive enough with his stance. 

In late November, the Colorado County Clerks Association issued Polis a letter, as well as held a virtual press conference, stating their disapproval of the Governor’s inaction in regards to condemning the escalated actions of Peters’ and Trump’s fervent supporters.

Boulder County Clerk Molly Fitzgerald stated during that conference that Polis’ “indecision, or refusal to publicly address the decision, is already causing harm to clerks across Colorado,” adding that County Clerks have seen a sharp increase in hostile conduct directed at them. 

“He needs to focus on making life more affordable, reducing costs. His tariffs go the opposite way and make life more expensive,” Polis said in response to the President’s “SLEAZEBAG” post, while visiting a middle school in Colorado Springs.

Polis repeated this talking point on social media, posting that Trump should be focused on making Christmas more affordable for average Americans.

Meanwhile, the Colorado Department of Corrections (DOC), has responded to federal requests for Peters’ transfer by stating, “the Department is not currently seeking any transfer,” and Chief Magistrate Judge of the U.S. District Court of Colorado Scott T. Varholak formally dismissed Peters’ petition for a writ of habeas corpus —another attempted legal path to a prison release. 

Polis still has not directly addressed the question of Peters’ transfer, even as the Department of Justice Civil Rights Division —as of Monday, December 8, 2025– has officially opened an investigation into the conditions of all prisons and youth facilities operated by the DOC and Department of Youth Services (DYS).  

Such a move from the DOJ is reminiscent of their threat to investigate “abuses of the criminal justice system” in regards to Peters’ prosecution, made in a Statement of Interest back in March of this year. However, this official statement from the DOJ formally announces that an investigation will be conducted “pursuant to its authority to enforce the Civil Rights of Institutionalized Persons Act.”

According to the DOJ website, the intention of the investigation is to “examine DOC and DYS policies and practices to ensure that inmates and youths in custody are being afforded their rights under the U.S. Constitution and federal law.”