September 04, 2025 11:20 AM UTC

Gov. Polis Rejects Tina Peters Quid Pro Quo: "Justice Is Not For Sale"

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• by: Colorado Pols

NEW: Gov Jared Polis (D) tells me he won't free President Trump's ally Tina Peters from prison to prevent more retaliation like Trump's removal of Space Command from Colorado. "Justice is not for sale," Polis said. #copolitics pic.twitter.com/y389pDWnwx

— Kyle Clark (@KyleClark) September 4, 2025

In an interview last night with 9NEWS’ Kyle Clark, Gov. Jared Polis responded to escalating threats from President Donald Trump while demanding the release of convicted felon former Mesa County Clerk Tina Peters–threats now arguably backed up by Trump’s announcement that the U.S. Space Command will be uprooted from Colorado Springs and sent at great expense to the state of Alabama as a reward for that state’s political loyalty versus our own. As readers know, President Trump has threatened Colorado with “harsh measures” if Peters is not released, being one of the only remaining accomplices in Trump’s attempt to steal the 2020 presidential election who Trump can’t himself exonerate like he did the January 6th 2021 insurrectionists.

Last night, Gov. Polis flatly dismissed Trump’s threats to Colorado, saying “justice is not for sale.”

CLARK: President Trump recently warned of quote unquote harsh measures if you refuse to free his ally Tina Peters, she’s the former election clerk serving prison time for tampering with election systems, and then yesterday the president pulled Space Command out of Colorado, and he specifically cited the election rigging conspiracy theories that are pushed by Peters and others. Here’s my question for you. Do you think that the president will stop punishing Colorado by doing things like pulling Space Command if you just free Tina Peters?

POLIS: No, I don’t. I, first of all, justice is not for sale, Kyle, and, you know, we look at any, any time we look at how we do that. So, obviously, she was convicted by a jury. That has nothing to do with, apparently the president’s dislike for mail-in ballots, which Colorado has, and one of the great things about mail-in ballots is we actually keep the paper ballots. They can be recounted if you don’t believe in the result, and often they are. If it’s close, there’s usually very little variance, and there’s always a few that are marked in a way where it can be challenged if it’s very close.

But I, I, I think it’s absolutely ridiculous to pull mail-in ballots into a decision that affects our national security, Kyle, right? This affects national security. There are many reasons, many generals, former, current have spoken about the disruption to our preparedness in the space domain if this is relocated to Huntsville, Alabama from Colorado Springs Space Command, and that’s why we’ve made the argument very strongly that it should stay in Colorado Springs. This argument is contrary to that, and if you cited mail-in ballots, that has nothing to do with national security, and it’s very scary that a president would cite that for something that has to do with keeping the American people safe.

CLARK: Governor, in 10 seconds is Space command a done deal? It’s going back and forth, but is it a done deal now? It’s leaving?

POLIS: I don’t know. I know that I’ve heard publicly our attorney general plans to file suit. We certainly hope to continue to make the case. So I think it, you know, the machinations will start, not immediately for the movement. We’re going to do everything we can to make the case, keep America safe, and the best place to do that is the Space Command right here in Colorado Springs.

Like we wrote yesterday, Trump has cited various excuses for moving Space Command out of Colorado over the years, a decision originally made in a spirit of political retaliation on Trump’s way out of office in 2021–for our state’s longstanding antipathy toward Trump that included “Never Trumpers” like now-Rep. Jeff Crank of Colorado Springs. The Colorado Springs Gazette flat-out begged its readers to acknowledge Trump’s inherent corruption with their message that “a vote for Cory Gardner is a vote for Space Command.” Trump has normalized using the power of the presidency for personal and political gain in ways that would have been condemned in any previous administration. In 2025, the pretext is mail ballots, but the subtext is Tina Peters rotting in jail because of Donald Trump’s “Big Lie.”

Faced with this unprecedented heavy-handed political retaliation, it’s more important than ever that Colorado not give in. This unfortunately could result in further retaliation against our state from the Trump administration, and before our state sees either judicial or electoral relief our resolve could prove costly in the short run. But the stand Colorado is making for everything from trust in our elections to upholding standards of official conduct makes this bigger than any one individual.

Tina Peters wanted to play a role bigger than her office in defending what she saw as “election integrity.” By serving her full sentence in a state that refuses to allow Trump to rewrite the history of the 2020 presidential election he lost, that’s exactly what Peters is doing.

Stand firm, Gov. Polis. History itself is counting on you.