‘Naked Abuse of Power’: Trump Blasted for Threat to Punish Colorado if It Doesn’t Release Convicted Felon
Larry Robinson/The Grand Junction Daily Sentinel via AP
President Donald Trump threatened the state of Colorado this week with “harsh measures” if it does not release convicted felon and former election official Tina Peters from jail. Trump’s stunning threat sparked an outcry of anger and accusations of abuse of power and presidential interference in the judicial system to benefit an ally, who was not only convicted by a jury of her peers but was given a stern verbal lashing by the judge during sentencing.
“FREE TINA PETERS, a brave and innocent Patriot who has been tortured by Crooked Colorado politicians, including the big Mail-In Ballot supporting the governor of the State. Let Tina Peters out of jail, RIGHT NOW. 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!!!” Trump wrote on Truth Social Thursday morning.
Peters was successfully prosecuted by Mesa County, Colorado’s Republican District Attorney Dan Rubinstein, over her role in a scheme to breach county voting systems after the 2020 presidential election. Rubinstein has repeatedly defended the conviction and slammed Peters for trying to “kick at cops” when she was initially arrested.
Peters, a former country clerk, was sentenced to 9 years behind bars in October of 2024. Her conviction stemmed from her participation in a plot to break into election machines under her supervision and copy data from them to prove try and fraud — instead voter information from the machines appeared online in August 2021, published in part by QAnon-affiliated conspiracy theorists like Ron Watkins.
Judge Matthew Barrett pulled no punches when reading out the verdict against Peters and sentencing her in October. He told her:
Our system of government can’t function when people in government think that somehow, someway, the power they’ve been given is absolute in all respects. And that’s where you fell. You have no respect for the checks and balances of government. You have no respect for this court.
You have no respect for law enforcement. At the end of the day, you cared about the jets, the podcast and the people fawning over you.
You abdicated your position as a servant to the Constitution and you chose you over all else. Yes, you are a charlatan and you cannot help but lie as easy it is for you to breathe.
Colorado’s Attorney General Phil Weiser hit back at Trump’s threat, writing, “Tina Peters was convicted by a jury of her peers, and is serving a prison sentence for her crimes. I will not be intimidated by the Trump Administration’s threats. Colorado will always stand for the rule of law, even when the President refuses to do so.”
Trump’s ongoing defense of Peters and his willingness to threaten to punish a state over a court verdict shocked many observers and pundits. Below are some of those reactions:
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