Trump threatens ‘harsh measures’ in another call for Tina Peters’ release
President Donald Trump again called for the release of former Mesa County Clerk Tina Peters in a social media post Thursday.
Peters is a prominent election denier serving a nine-year prison sentence for her role in a breach of Mesa County’s elections systems during a 2021 software update.
“Let Tina Peters out of jail, RIGHT NOW,” Trump said in the post. “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!!!”
©
Peters was convicted by a Mesa County jury in August 2024 on four felony counts related to the security breach, which was part of an effort to demonstrate that the 2020 election was untrustworthy, even though there is no credible evidence to support that position. She was prosecuted by the office of a Republican district attorney.
In May, Trump called for the U.S. Department of Justice to take “all necessary action” to secure her release. Trump cannot pardon Peters, because her conviction involves state crimes.
Peters has appealed the conviction, and while the Colorado Court of Appeals reviews the case, her legal team filed a federal habeas corpus petition. The petition, which was filed in the U.S. District Court of Colorado, argues that Peters should be released on bond pending the appeal decision.
Peters’ attorneys argue in the federal habeas corpus petition that her First Amendment rights have been violated because she has not been allowed bail pending her appeal.
“(Peters) has been made to stay in prison because people are afraid of what she would say,” her attorney Peter Ticktin said in an interview with Newsline earlier this month.
The Colorado attorney general’s office has asked for the dismissal of the habeas corpus petition, arguing that the federal court does not have jurisdiction in the case. In a recent filing, the attorney general’s office cited the 1971 U.S. Supreme Court case Younger v. Harris, in which the court recognized “longstanding public policy against federal court interference with state court proceedings.”
