Trump says he'll ‘take harsh measures' if Tina Peters not freed
Peters, 69, was sentenced in October 2024 to nine years in prison on seven charges, including four felonies, after she allowed an unauthorized person to enter a secure part of Mesa County Elections in May 2021. They made copies of the computer hard drives, searched for evidence of election fraud and misled officials.
Trump wrote on Truth Social Thursday morning, '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.'
He added, '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!!!'
This isn't the only time Trump demanded Peters' release. In May, he wrote on Truth Social, 'Tina is an innocent Political Prisoner being horribly and unjustly punished in the form of Cruel and Unusual Punishment.'
The Department of Justice announced in March that it's examining Peters' prosecution, stating that it has found 'reasonable concerns' with her sentencing.
District Attorney Dan Rubinstein, who prosecuted Peters' case, previously explained the DOJ has the authority to file a statement of interest in any case. However, since she was tried and convicted in state court, only Colorado Gov. Jared Polis could commute her sentence or pardon her, according to Rubinstein.
Colorado Attorney General Phil Weiser fought back against the Trump administration, saying it is wielding 'political power' by giving unprecedented help to Peters.
'Tina Peters is in prison because of her own actions. A grand jury indicted her, and a trial jury found her guilty of breaking Colorado's criminal laws. No one is above the law,' Weiser told WesternSlopeNow back in May.
Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
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Gov. Cox worries about what will be lost in national redistricting battle
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CBS News
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Newsom signs California redistricting plan that could tilt 5 House seats toward Democrats
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Republicans have a narrow majority at the moment, and Democrats winning back three seats in the 2026 midterms could be enough to flip control of the chamber if the lines used in the 2024 election were still in place. Redistricting in red states could change that dynamic significantly however, and with it the impact of the final two years on Mr. Trump's second term in office. Texas and California are the two biggest redistricting battlegrounds, but Mr. Trump has pushed similar efforts in GOP-led Indiana and Florida, and New York Democrats have floated redrawing their House map. The Republican-led state of Missouri could also try and redraw a Democratic district in the coming weeks, and new maps are also expected in Ohio, where a redraw brought about by state law could impact some of the red state's Democratic members of Congress. Earlier this week, former President Barack Obama acknowledged that he was not a fan of partisan gerrymandering but he backed Newsom's redistricting plan anyway at a fundraiser in Martha's Vineyard and on social media, calling it a "smart, measured approach." Less than 24 hours before California's scheduled vote, Newsom joined a press call with Democratic party leaders, urging support for his state's redistricting effort. "This is about taking back our country," Newsom told reporters. "This is about the Democratic Party now punching back forcefully and very intentionally." A draft congressional map unveiled by California Democrats late last week would heavily impact five of the state's nine Republican U.S. House members. It would redraw Reps. Doug LaMalfa and Kevin Kiley's Northern California districts, tweak Rep. David Valadao's district in the Central Valley and rearrange parts of densely populated Southern California, impacting Reps. Ken Calvert and Darrell Issa. And some more competitive Democrat-held districts could be tilted further from the GOP. There's no guarantee that Democrats will win in all five newly recast districts. Democrats hold large majorities in both chambers of California's state legislature. But some legal hurdles still lie ahead, and Republicans in the state have pushed back against the redistricting plans. Unlike Texas, California has an independent redistricting commission that was created by voters earlier this century. To overhaul the current congressional map, a constitutional amendment would need to be passed by a two-thirds vote in California's Assembly and Senate and be approved by voters in the fast-moving fall election. On Wednesday, the California Supreme Court denied a GOP attempt to stop the mid-cycle redistricting. California Republicans had legally challenged Democrats' efforts, claiming the state's constitution gives Californians the right to review new legislation for 30 days. 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"If we're talking about the cost of a special election versus the cost of our democracy or the cost that Californians are already paying to subsidize this corrupt administration, those costs seem well worth paying at this moment," said Democratic state Assemblyman Isaac G. Bryan. Democratic lawmakers and Newsom have repeatedly emphasized that these redistricting efforts would not get rid of the independent commission and that the new maps he's hoping to put in place will be the lines used through the 2030 election. The commission would go back to drawing the state's congressional maps after the 2030 census, according to Newsom, who says this is only being done as a response to Mr. Trump and Texas' redistricting. That notion was rejected by Jones, who said: "Growing up, I was taught two wrongs don't make a right, so no, it is not justified." Anne Bryson contributed to this report.