Trump officials seek to transfer Tina Peters from Colorado prison to federal custody

Seth Klamann, The Denver Post on Nov 14, 2025

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DENVER — Federal officials have formally requested that former Colorado county clerk Tina Peters be transferred to federal custody, the latest in a monthslong effort by the Trump administration to free the election conspiracy theorist from a state prison cell.

Officials with the Federal Bureau of Prisons sent a letter about Peters to Colorado’s Department of Corrections on Wednesday, the state confirmed Friday. It’s unclear why the bureau is seeking to transfer Peters, who was given a nine-year sentence to jail and prison last year after being convicted of charges related to unauthorized access to voting equipment.

A corrections spokeswoman declined to release the letter and directed The Denver Post to file a records request to obtain it.

Just The News, a right-wing media outlet, reported last week that the Justice Department directed the prison bureau to seek Peters’ transfer to a federal facility. It’s unclear whether state officials will agree to the request or, if they refuse, if federal officials can otherwise force Peters’ transfer.

The request comes after President Donald Trump has repeatedly called for Peters, a prominent supporter of his false stolen election conspiracies from 2020, to be released. In March, the Justice Department announced that it would review the state’s prosecution of the former Mesa County clerk to check for “abuses of the criminal justice process.”

Peters has also challenged her own detention and has asked a judge to release her while she appeals her convictions. On Thursday, her attorneys wrote to the judge in a filing that her “health has declined” during her incarceration.

Peters was convicted on state charges, so Trump cannot pardon her.

On Tuesday, CNN reported that Trump has been “urged” to intervene further in the case, and that Ed Martin, the U.S. Justice Department’s pardon attorney, has been advocating on her behalf.

The prison bureau’s request was first reported by 9News.

Peters’ attorney, John Case, did not respond to an email seeking comment Friday. Nor did spokespeople for the Federal Bureau of Prisons.

The state Department of Corrections did not say whether it intended to comply with the federal government’s request.

“The letter is currently under review in accordance with all applicable departmental policies and procedures,” spokeswoman Alondra Gonzalez-Garcia said in an email.

Peters was accused of using another person’s security badge to give another person access to Mesa County’s election systems as part of false claims about the 2020 presidential election that Trump lost to Democrat Joe Biden. She was convicted of three counts of attempting to influence a public servant, as well as charges of conspiracy to commit criminal impersonation, first-degree official misconduct, violation of duty, and failing to comply with the Colorado secretary of state’s requirements.

She was sentenced in October 2024 to 81/2 years in prison and six months in jail.