President Donald Trump threatened to pursue unspecified “harsh measures” unless the state of Colorado releases a woman from prison who attempted to hack election systems on his behalf.
Trump wrote on Thursday that Colorado should free Tina Peters, who he described as “brave and innocent” and claimed she had been “tortured by Crooked Colorado politicians.” Trump falsely wrote that Peters, a former clerk in Mesa County, had done “nothing wrong.” Trump also reasserted his long-debunked conspiracy theory that Democrats cheated in the 2020 election
Trump lost the 2020 election to former President Joe Biden and Peters was part of an effort to subvert the result of that race. Peters is serving a nine-year prison sentence following her conviction last year on multiple charges.
Peters was convicted of breaking into Mesa County’s election systems in 2021 while trying to prove conspiracy theories pushed by Trump and others about the election. At her sentencing Judge Matthew Barrett said Peters had done “immeasurable damage” to local elections and trust in the electoral process. He also called her a “charlatan.”
County Commissioner Cody Davis, who happens to be a Republican, spoke at Peters’ sentencing and said her actions had cost the county $1.4 million.
MyPillow CEO Mike Lindell
In March, Peters told reporters that she had allies reaching out to Trump on her behalf in hopes of securing her release. Trump doesn’t have the power to pardon state convictions. She has been affiliated with MyPillow CEO Mike Lindell, a Trump confidante who has spent years promoting bizarre and nonsensical conspiracies about the election.
Trump’s advocacy for Peters is in line with his disrespect for the democratic process—unless he and his allies win an election. He is currently pushing Republicans to gerrymander election districts to ensure Republican wins—even as the party loses support by backing his agenda.
His support of Peters is in line with his significant record of weakness on crime, particularly crimes meant to bolster his political standing. Trump pardoned hundreds of people who he inspired to attack the Capitol on Jan. 6, and has also pardoned a succession of fraudsters operating on his behalf.
Yet at the same time Trump—who is a convicted felon 34 times over—has argued that he needs to engineer a military takeover of Washington, D.C., to combat a crime wave that does not exist.
