Trump Targets Polis and Mail-In Voting in Latest Rant, Demands Release of Tina Peters

After President Donald J. Trump met with Russian dictator Vladimir Putin in Alaska last Friday, he hopped on Fox News, naturally, to be interviewed by Bret Baier. Trump told Baier that Putin had told him, "Your election was rigged because you have mail-in voting," and proceeded to announce to Baier that he would "lead a movement" against mail-in voting.

In Colorado, all election ballots arrive by mail, and we either mail them back in, drop them off at a ballot box or vote in-person on election day(but most Coloradan voters don't). Then a notification system tracks your ballot as it is returned, your signature is verified, and the ballot is counted. The system has checks to ensure ballot accuracy, and it seems to work, based on public data and a couple of ill-advised citizen test cases.

Trump took a shot at Colorado's mail-in voting in a post this morning on his Truth Social platform, taking aim at Governor Jared Polis specifically, along with other unspecified Colorado politicians. But the point of his post wasn't about election security — it was a demand to free a former county clerk convicted of compromising Colorado election data.

"FREE TINA PETERS," it begins, "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!!!"
Peters has a case pending in federal court asking a federal judge to release her on bond pending her state appeal on four felonies and three misdemeanors related to a voting machine data breach in 2021. The federal judge was not convinced it was in his purview as a federal magistrate to release Peters on bond for a state charge, and said he found no instance ever where a federal court intervened to release an inmate on bond pending a state court appeal.

Earlier this month Colorado Attorney General Phil Weiser filed a response asking the federal judge to dismiss Peters' petition for release, citing a 1971 Supreme Court case, Younger v. Harris, where the court recognized "longstanding public policy against federal court interference with state court proceedings."

Yet Trump and his Department of Justice seem intent on continuing to exert whatever pressure they can to get Peters released from her sentence.

Yes, you understand the situation correctly: The law-and-order lock-them-up president intent on restoring election integrity is demanding that the State of Colorado release a convict who compromised public data. Only in Trump's America.