Donald Trump threatens to take ‘harsh measures’ if a disgraced AND convicted felon is not freed ASAP – We Got This Covered

President Donald Trump is demanding the immediate release of former Colorado election official Tina Peters from prison. Peters is serving a nine-year sentence for her role in a 2021 voting data scheme. The 69-year-old former Mesa County clerk was convicted of helping unauthorized people gain access to election equipment after the 2020 presidential election.

Peters became the first election official in the United States to be convicted of criminal charges related to efforts to overturn the 2020 election results. According to The Washington Post, she was found guilty on seven charges in August 2024, including conspiracy to commit criminal impersonation and attempting to influence a public servant. The charges stem from her allowing an unauthorized person to use someone else’s identity to access Mesa County’s election system.

Trump threatened “harsh measures” if Peters is not released from prison immediately. In a Truth Social post on Thursday, Trump wrote: “FREE TINA PETERS, a brave and innocent Patriot who has been tortured by Crooked Colorado politicians.” He added: “If she is not released, I am going to take harsh measures!!!” The president called Peters an “old woman” who is “very sick” and claimed she “did nothing wrong, except catching the Democrats cheat in the Election.”

What Trump can and cannot do for Peters

Trump’s options for helping Peters are limited because she was convicted on state charges, not federal ones. Unlike federal crimes, the president has no clemency power in state court cases. This means Trump cannot pardon Peters or commute her sentence directly. The case was prosecuted by a Republican district attorney, and Peters was sentenced by a state judge in Colorado.

Trump has already directed the U.S. Department of Justice to take action to secure Peters’ release. In March, the DOJ filed a court brief that could help her case, though Colorado state attorneys have urged a federal judge to dismiss it. The federal court has not yet ruled on whether it has jurisdiction over the matter. Peters has filed a federal habeas corpus petition arguing that her First Amendment rights were violated.

The president’s threats of “harsh measures” against Colorado remain unclear. It is uncertain what specific actions Trump could take at the federal level to force a state to release a prisoner convicted of state crimes. Colorado officials have firmly defended Peters’ conviction and sentence. The 2020 election has remained a contentious topic throughout Trump’s political career, with various legal challenges and claims continuing to surface.

Peters’ case centers on events from May 2021, when she ordered surveillance cameras monitoring voting machines to be turned off. She then allowed Conan Hayes, a man connected to MyPillow CEO Mike Lindell, to use another person’s security badge to access the county’s election system. Hayes copied hard drives containing sensitive election data, which later appeared online and was featured at a symposium hosted by Lindell. The breach was part of an effort to find evidence supporting false claims about the 2020 election.

During her sentencing in October 2024, District Judge Matthew Barrett rejected Peters’ claims of innocence. He called her “a charlatan who used and is still using your prior position in office to peddle snake oil that’s been proven to be junk time and time again.” The judge said he was convinced Peters would “do it all over again if you could” and cited her lack of remorse as a factor in the lengthy sentence. Trump’s presidency has involved numerous controversial decisions and conflicts, with this latest demand adding to ongoing tensions between federal and state authorities.