Tina Peters, the former Mesa County, Colorado, clerk turned Big Lie crusader, is the only person serving a prison sentence — nine years — for crimes tied to President Donald Trump’s false claims of a stolen 2020 election. The MAGA faithful are furious, calling for military intervention and even violence to free their cause célèbre.
Despite Trump’s best efforts, including a social media post Thursday night purporting to free her, Peters sits in a state prison — outside the reach of a president’s (federal) pardon power.
For now.
On Monday, a federal magistrate judge rejected Peters’ request for early release pending appeal of her tate convictions. To recap for the unfamiliar, here are the crimes for which a Colorado jury found Peters guilty in August 2024: three counts of attempting to influence a public servant, one count of conspiracy to commit criminal impersonation, first-degree official misconduct, violation of duty and failing to comply with the secretary of state.
Colorado Gov. Jared Polis has stood his ground, no doubt emboldened by the disturbing facts of the case.
To try to prove false claims that voting machines had been rigged against Trump, Peters had let into Mesa County’s secure elections room an unauthorized outsider who then copied hard drives from voting machines. This extraordinary breach of protocol occurred after Peters directed staff to shut off surveillance cameras into the rooms.
Trump has led a public pressure campaign against Colorado’s Democratic Gov. Jared Polis to “Free Tina Peters!” Polis has stood his ground, no doubt emboldened by the disturbing facts of the case, the lies that fueled them and the nonpartisan nature of the prosecution: Mesa County District Attorney Daniel P. Rubinstein, a Republican, prosecuted Peters.
“In one of the most conservative jurisdictions in Colorado, the same voters who elected Ms. Peters, also elected the Republican District Attorney who handled the prosecution, and the all-Republican Board of County Commissioners who unanimously requested the prosecution of Ms. Peters on behalf of the citizens she victimized,” Rubinstein said in a statement to the Associated Press earlier this year.
The system is holding — so far.
But that could change if Trump gets his way. In August, Trump threatened “harsh measures” if Peters was not released. This president has famously empowered the Justice Department to go after his perceived political rivals, including people like Polis who don’t acquiesce to his demands. In March, the Justice Department told a federal court that Peters’ case is part of a larger review of cases “across the nation for abuses of the criminal justice process.” This week, Attorney General Pam Bondi took Trump’s threats a step further and ordered the head of the Justice Department’s once-storied Civil Rights Division to investigate Colorado’s prison system following reports from Peters’ lawyer of unsafe conditions. The review — the first of its kind in this administration — could help pave the way for a transfer or early release. The head of the Civil Division argued in the same March filing that Peters’ nine-year sentence is too long and disproportionate to the crime. In many ways, Trump’s continued focus on Peters is unfinished business. In many ways, Trump’s continued focus on Peters is unfinished business. On his first day in office this year, Trump pardoned or commuted the sentences of the more than 1,500 foot soldiers — MAGA supporters he summoned to the nation’s capital on Jan. 6, 2021, and urged to “fight like hell, and if you don’t fight like hell, you’re not going to have a country anymore” all because of his Big Lie. His pardons have not only allowed violent criminals to reoffend, but they have also given would-be criminals a permission structure: Trump is telling the MAGA faithful that it’s okay to break the law in his name, he’ll take care of you. We don’t know how the push to “Free Tina Peters” will end. But Trump doesn’t always take no for an answer; he often pushes until someone folds — or until the Supreme Court’s conservative majority sides with him. Peters’ case will almost certainly find its way to that court. Until then, Polis is right to hold the line: to defend justice against relentless lies, intimidation and a president obsessed with saving the last foot soldier who perpetuated his Big Lie.
Anthony Coley
Anthony Coley is a legal analyst for NBC News, MSNBC and CNBC. He was director of the Justice Department’s office of public affairs from February 2021 until January 2023. 
