December 04, 2025 09:20 AM UTC

Trump Lashes Out At Gov. Polis As Tina Peters Supporters Call For Violence

•  
• by: Colorado Pols

As FOX 31’s Heather Willard reports, following the refusal over the holiday weekend by Colorado officials to honor the request by the Department of Justice to transfer convicted felon former Mesa County clerk Tina Peters to federal custody, from which she would likely be either released or moved to Ghislaine Maxwell-style accommodations at a “Club Fed,” President Donald Trump took to Truth Social to rage at Gov. Jared Polis and spread a fresh round of misinformation about Peters’ case:

President Donald Trump took to his social media platform on Wednesday to call Colorado’s governor a “sleazebag” and defend former Mesa County Clerk Tina Peters.

Peters was sentenced to nine years in Colorado prison in October 2024 after the election conspiracy theorist helped Trump supporters access confidential data about the 2020 presidential election. Specifically, Peters was found to have allowed an unauthorized man access to Mesa County’s secured election system.

This is not the first time Trump has taken to Truth Social to support Peters. In August, Trump wrote similar sentiments on social media. He said Wednesday that Polis has refused to release Peters from state prison into federal custody after the Federal Bureau of Prisons wrote to Colorado prison officials requesting such a move…

Last night’s screed repeated the usual falsehoods about Peters’ case, like the laughably bogus claim she was somehow required by federal law to let an impostor access voting equipment under a fake name after disabling security cameras–but notably lacked the threat of “harsh measures” Trump previously made against our state:

To be clear, election records are already backed up as part of the normal process that all of Colorado’s county clerks follow. This contention that Peters’ scheme to allow an election conspiracy theorist using a stolen identity to bypass security, copy, and then publicly distribute election system software, is total nonsense that every court assigned to the case has laughed off. The reality as the jury found is that Peters’ own actions were the only election security issue uncovered during this investigation. To legitimize the gross misconduct Peters engaged in to allow this unauthorized theft of election system data would be catastrophic to election integrity everywhere. That’s why Peters was prosecuted by a Republican district attorney, and why fellow Mesa County Republican officials testified against her.

Although Gov. Polis has yet to directly say the word “no” in response to the Justice Department’s transfer request, which has frustrated some county clerks who want an unequivocal statement affirming the state’s position, Polis’ response to Trump’s latest broadside suggests the pressure tactics aren’t working:

“We would all benefit if the President spent less time posting attacks and instead worked on ending tariffs and making Christmas more affordable for American families,” the governor said.

Meanwhile, the calls for violent action to free Peters continue to grow after local election conspiracy theorist Joe Oltmann called for Polis, Secretary of State Jena Griswold, and other Democrats in state government to hang:

Over the weekend, Oltmann took his bellicose rhetoric a step further, calling Colorado’s state government a “synagogue of Satan Jews” who “robbed Tina of her life” on behalf of the “demons” at Dominion Voting Systems. Between the walls closing in on Oltmann in his defamation case from Dominion’s Eric Coomer and the millions that “MyPillow Guy” Mike Lindell allegedly borrowed from Oltmann and then stiffed him on, desperate rhetoric may be all Oltmann has left.

The concern remains, however, that amidst this forcefully-delivered misinformation and misguided rage being fomented among the MAGA base as a result, someone who believes Trump’s “Truths” might take their frustrations beyond the rhetorical.

Trump wants Tina Peters freed for the same reason he pardoned even the most violent January 6th rioters. They all have paid the price for Trump’s refusal to accept the results of an election he lost. After Trump’s once-unthinkable return to the White House in January, Peters’ continued incarceration became a discordant reminder of the damage Trump’s refusal to accept defeat has done to our country–and Trump needs Peters off whatever is left of his conscience.

These larger implications are why Peters must serve out her sentence. To give in to Trump’s historical revisionism, backed by his supporters’ appalling threats of violence, would set yet another terrible precedent.