Two months into her post-prison life, election denier Tina Peters traveled to Washington for high-level meetings this week with Trump administration officials, pitching her plan to invoke emergency powers and assert unprecedented federal control over elections before the November midterms..
The DC trip – where Peters met Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick and the chief of the Justice Department’s civil rights division — was her latest stop in a national tour promoting her vision to overhaul US elections.
She has used her newfound freedom after her prison sentence was cut short in June to spread her usual false claims about voting machines rigging elections, speaking at conferences and hitting the right-wing podcast circuit.
Those conspiracy theories were at the heart of Peters’ criminal case in Colorado, where she was convicted on state charges in a scheme to breach election systems in Mesa County, where she was the clerk, in hopes of proving that the results in the 2020 presidential election were fraudulent.
Peters’ post-prison renaissance was made possible by Colorado’s Democratic governor, Jared Polis, who commuted her prison term, paving the way for her early release less than two years into a nine-year sentence.
President Donald Trump, unable to pardon Peters’ state crimes, instead led a year-long pressure campaign against Polis, withholding federal funds, shuttering federal offices in Colorado, and vetoing a key water project. This helped elevate Peters’ plight and turned her into a MAGA hero — but she’s reviled by election officials who say her actions and rhetoric undermine the democratic process.
Weeks after leaving prison, she visited the White House for a private lunch with President Donald Trump, who shares many of her goals but is yet to endorse her proposal
“She has a plan,” her attorney Peter Ticktin told CNN. “I don’t know whether she’ll get the support to make sure her plan gets implemented. But the point is, somebody needs to take this bull by the horns and move it.”
Meanwhile, a like-minded election official in California offered Peters a job to consult on election security. Ticktin said she’s mulling the offer.
These predictable — and indeed, widely predicted — moves from Peters created an “I-told-you-so” moment for the many Colorado election officials and prosecutors who argued that freeing her could put the midterms at risk.
One of those officials is Colorado Attorney General Phil Weiser, who is now the Democratic nominee for governor and whose office helped prosecute Peters. He expressed disgust at the warm welcome Peters received this week in Washington.
“She is a criminal who compromised elections and election equipment, who is entirely unremorseful … that’s why she got a serious sentence,” Weiser said. “Instead, she’s out there on some type of campaign, getting celebrated in the White House, and taking her conspiracy theories literally on the road.”
In a statement to CNN, Polis defended the commutation but said he was “disappointed but not surprised” that Peters was continuing to “spread baseless and inaccurate claims” and “conspiracy theories” about elections.
“Our jails are not re-education gulags,” Polis said. “People usually exit with similar beliefs to how they went in. She continues to have free-speech rights, just as we all do. While I disagree with what she says, I don’t believe in jailing people for speech, as long as she follows the law and terms of her parole.”
Hero’s welcome in Washington
Even though Peters, 70, was released early, she is still a felon and subject to parole conditions. An official from Colorado’s Department of Corrections told CNN that Peters was granted permission to travel to Washington this week and “has been submitting the required travel permits as appropriate.”
Peters had lunch Tuesday with Harmeet Dhillon, herself a 2020 election denier, who now leads the Justice Department’s civil rights division. Dhillon has been a key figure in the Trump administration’s attempts to pressure states into adopting his favored policies on issues such as mail-in voting and voter ID requirements.
“Tina Peters and I had a lovely lunch and discussion on Capitol Hill! She is an inspiring lady!” Dhillon posted to X, adding that they also talked fashion.
The Justice Department didn’t respond to CNN’s request for comment.
Reacting to the Dhillon-Peters lunch, Weiser said, “it’s perverse for someone from the Justice Department, whose job is law enforcement, to be celebrating someone who is a convicted felon for making our elections less secure.”
Peters also posted a photo Tuesday with Lutnick, writing, “Look forward to more results to shore up our elections.”
She touted an unusual announcement that came one day earlier from the Census Bureau, which is under the Lutnick-led Commerce Department. The bureau claimed it conducted a new review and uncovered 24,000 votes by non-citizens in the 2020 election. (Election experts panned these findings.)
The Commerce Department didn’t respond to CNN’s request for comment.
A new job for Peters?
Even though she was found guilty of misconduct as the Mesa County election clerk, she might return to government soon — this time in California.
Clint Curtis, a self-proclaimed “election integrity” activist who is the clerk and registrar of voters in Shasta County, recently said he wanted Peters to fill a vacancy in his office. Ticktin said Peters is open to the job opportunity.
“Apparently, she’s still thinking about it,” Curtis told CNN in an interview Wednesday. “I’m not sure if she’s going to take it or not. She’s really busy.”
A controversial figure, Curtis lost re-election this year and was censured by the Shasta County Board of Supervisors, which said it “disavows and denounces” his “flagrant violations” of professional conduct rules.
Curtis, who denies wrongdoing, said Peters’ status as a convicted felon wouldn’t get in the way of her potential employment. He said she could join his office as a consultant in a supervisory role, to advise on election security.
“She wouldn’t have any logins to our voting system,” Curtis said. “That protects her from any claims that she might try to hurt anything.”
Private lunch with Trump
Even if that job doesn’t pan out, Ticktin said, things are looking up for Peters after her release.
The color has returned to her face. The health issues that worsened behind bars have allayed. And she’s regaining confidence after learning in prison that speaking up might “make someone want to kill you,” Ticktin said
A major morale boost came in late June, when, mere weeks after walking out of the La Vista Correctional Facility, Peters stepped into the Oval Office for a jubilant photo-op with Trump.
Ticktin joined Peters at the White House — a “tag-along,” in his words — and they had lunch with Trump and White House counsel David Warrington. Photos obtained by CNN show that Peters and Ticktin were also greeted by Vice President JD Vance and Secretary of State Marco Rubio.
“I come from New York — we don’t get impressed,” Ticktin said. “But that was something really special. One of the most amazing experiences of my life.”
After Peters wrapped up her latest DC tour, she said Wednesday that she was taking a five-hour train ride to visit her elderly mother in Virginia.
“Tired but happy to make a difference,” she wrote.
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