Trump Grants Full Pardon to Imprisoned Colorado Election Clerk Tina Peters
President Donald J. Trump announced Thursday that he has granted a full pardon to former Colorado election clerk Tina Peters, denouncing her prosecution as a politically motivated attack by Democrats and praising her as a “patriot” targeted for questioning the integrity of the 2020 election.
“Tina, a Gold Star Mother who is in poor health, is now serving nine years in a Colorado state prison for challenging the 2020 elections,” Trump wrote on Truth Social. “The left wants her dead.”
While the pardon carries enormous symbolic weight, it does not automatically secure Peters’ release. Because her conviction stems from state charges, Trump’s federal clemency authority does not compel Colorado officials to act. Legal analysts note, however, that the move could intensify public pressure or serve as grounds for renewed state-level review or clemency efforts.
“Democrats only think there is one crime — not voting for them!” Trump said in his statement. “Instead of protecting Americans and their tax dollars, Democrats chose instead to prosecute anyone they can find that wanted safe and secure elections.”
“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,” Trump continued. “Today I am granting Tina a full Pardon for her attempts to expose Voter Fraud in the Rigged 2020 Presidential Election!”
Peters, 69, previously served as the Mesa County Clerk and Recorder and became a prominent figure among election integrity advocates after claiming she uncovered irregularities within Colorado’s voting systems. State authorities later accused her of unlawfully allowing a third party to access and copy sensitive voting machine data, charging her with election equipment tampering and obstruction.
In October 2024, Peters was convicted on three counts and sentenced to nine years in Colorado state prison.
Her supporters argue the case was never about law enforcement but about silencing dissent. They maintain Peters acted as a whistleblower who preserved election data officials had ordered deleted under federal guidelines.
“She was jailed for preserving evidence from the 2020 elections that she was told to delete,” Peters’ legal team said at the time. “The judge berated her, insulted her, and told her she had ‘privilege.’”
Trump’s pardon announcement followed a recent setback for Peters in federal court, where a magistrate judge denied her habeas corpus petition seeking early release. Her attorney, longtime Trump ally Peter Ticktin, has raised alarm about her treatment behind bars.
“Tina Peters has been attacked three times by other inmates,” Ticktin wrote in a letter obtained by reporters. “She is a Gold Star Mother and a patriot who should never have been in prison to begin with.”
In May, Trump’s Justice Department instructed federal attorneys to “take all necessary action to release this political prisoner from the Biden regime,” after Ticktin filed an amicus brief on Peters’ behalf.
Trump has repeatedly blasted Colorado officials—particularly Democratic Attorney General Phil Weiser—for pursuing the case while, he argues, ignoring serious crime.
“Radical Left Colorado Attorney General Phil Weiser ignores Illegals committing Violent Crimes like Rape and Murder in his State and, instead, jailed Tina Peters,” Trump wrote earlier this year.
“Tina is an innocent Political Prisoner being horribly and unjustly punished in the form of Cruel and Unusual Punishment,” he added. “This is a Communist persecution by the Radical Left Democrats to cover up their Election crimes and misdeeds in 2020.”
Colorado officials have stood by the conviction. In a statement last year, Weiser said, “No one is above the law. This conviction upholds the integrity of Colorado’s elections.”
Though unenforceable at the state level, Trump’s pardon represents a powerful rebuke from the Oval Office and a formal declaration that Peters’ prosecution was unjust. The White House has not ruled out further action, including a federal review of her treatment while incarcerated.