★ Government Action
Trump pardons Tina Peters, Colorado clerk in stop-the-steal case
DOJ Political InterferencePresidential Self-DealingTrump Pardons
Filed December 2025
★ The Brief
What happened
Peters was sentenced to nine years in state prison after a 2024 conviction for allowing an outsider to copy hard drives from her county's Dominion voting machines in 2021.
Who enabled it
Who benefits
Deal or steal?
The pardon proclamation extends to "any offenses... related to election integrity" through 2021, the most direct presidential endorsement to date of conduct undertaken to advance the 2020-election-was-stolen narrative. DOJ separately filed an unusual statement-of-interest in her habeas petition.
On December 5, 2025, President Donald Trump signed a pardon for Tina Peters, the former Mesa County, Colorado clerk and 2020-election denier. Peters was convicted in 2024 on multiple Colorado state charges — attempting to influence a public servant, conspiracy to commit criminal impersonation, first-degree official misconduct, violation of duty, and failing to comply with Secretary of State guidance — for a 2021 breach in which she allowed an unauthorized outsider into a secure room to copy hard drives from Mesa County's Dominion voting machines, in service of the "stop the steal" effort to find evidence of fraud in the 2020 election. She was sentenced to nine years in state prison in October 2024.
Actors
Who pushed it · 1Who initiated, paid, or pushed the action.
Donald TrumpSigned a sweeping federal pardon of Tina Peters on December 5, 2025 covering "those offenses she has or may have committed or taken part in related to election integrity and security" from January 1, 2020 through December 31, 2021. Announced the pardon on Truth Social December 11 and has separately pressured Colorado officials to release Peters from state custody, which the federal pardon cannot reach.
Beneficiaries
Who gained · 1Who stood to gain.
- Tina Peters
Received a sweeping federal pardon covering any federal exposure for conduct related to election integrity from 2020-2021. Convicted in 2024 on Colorado state charges for the 2021 Mesa County voting-machine breach in pursuit of "stop the steal" evidence; remains in state prison serving a nine-year sentence the federal pardon cannot reach.
Sources
- U.S. Department of Justice · March 2, 2026justice.govClemency Grants by President Donald J. Trump (2025-Present)
- CNN · December 11, 2025cnn.comTrump announces pardon for Tina Peters, increasing pressure to free her though he can't erase state charges
- Colorado Public Radio · December 11, 2025cpr.orgTrump claims to have 'pardoned' imprisoned Mesa clerk Tina Peters
- The Washington Times · December 11, 2025washingtontimes.comTrump pardons former Colorado elections clerk Tina Peters, but it alone won't free her from prison
Further reading
- ★ Government ActionMay 2026DOJ settles Trump IRS suit with $1.8B anti-weaponization fund
- ★ Government ActionApril 2025Trump pardons Paul Walczak weeks after mother's $1M Mar-a-Lago dinner
- ★ Government ActionMarch 2025Trump commutes Galanis, second Biden-inquiry witness given clemency
- ★ Government ActionMarch 2025Trump pardons Nikola founder Milton, wiping $676M restitution
- ★ Government ActionMarch 2025Trump pardons Devon Archer, first Biden-inquiry witness given clemency
- ★ Government ActionNovember 2025Trump admin releases 35,000 Nvidia AI chips to Saudi Arabia's Humain