What happened in Colorado after Trump demanded Tina Peters be freed | 60 Minutes

On the eve of the midterms, President Trump won't stop talking about voter fraud. Yet, he has gone to extraordinary lengths for an election official convicted of helping breach the very voting system she swore to protect. Tina Peters, once Mesa County, Colorado's top election official, used her office to pursue the president's claim, never backed by evidence that rigged voting machines cost him the 2020 election. A Colorado jury convicted her. A judge sentenced her to 9 years. Mr. Trump wanted her freed. How he went about it, critics say, reveals how far he'll go to advance his agenda and punish those who stand in his way. In Colorado, the cost of that punishment came into focus with a fire in August of 2025. It was one of the worst wildfires in Colorado history, scorching nearly 138,000 acres. It left almost all of Kathleen Kelly's 2,000 acre ranch in ashes. Did you see it moving towards you?

>> Yes. Yeah. >> What's that like? Go see your >> It's like watching a monster crawl across the earth. This tells you about the fire right here. >> So, it came right up to your house. >> Yeah. Kelly, a retired school teacher, says the Lee Fire tore through the ranch her father built in 1949, leaving behind an apocalyptic wasteland. >> You said it was like hell opening up. >> Yes. There are people whose whole livelihoods depend upon the buildings, the structures, the things that they built over years who lost everything. A lot of the damage was oil and gas infrastructure, some homes, buildings. It absolutely met the requirements for a federal disaster declaration. >> Even so, the Trump administration denied Democratic Governor Jared Polus' plea for federal aid. >> These are disasters that are larger than any particular state can pay for and handle at one time. We had not been turned down for one. I think it's been decades since uh that's occurred.

>> What What was different this time? Well, you know, you know, obviously I'm not the one to ask, right? The person to ask is the White House and and and the president. >> What was different this time, critics say, was President Trump's fixation on Tina Peters, who has long championed his false claims about rigged voting machines. This is a rock, >> right? She is at a time when >> Colorado's Democratic Attorney General Phil Weiser's office helped convict and imprison Tina Peters in connection with tampering with voting machines. >> President Trump has said he doesn't like that Tina Peters was sentenced and serving um this 9-year sentence. So, he said, "I'm going to punish Colorado." Last year, as the Lee fire raged across northwest Colorado, the president warned on social media, "If she is not released, I'm going to take harsh measures." >> That was the statement the president made. And then the consequences started to follow. If Colorado doesn't want to lose these benefits, it might consider treating the Tina Peters case differently.

>> The White House insists denying wildfire aid had nothing to do with Peters. Spokesperson Lauren Bis said there's no politicization to the president's decisions on disaster relief, but the fire aid was only the beginning. The Trump administration threatened to withhold food aid from the state's neediest families, cancelled $ 109 million in transportation funding, and moved to dismantle the National Center for Atmospheric Research in Boulder. actions the administration described as a series of independent agency decisions. >> The threats were not hidden. They were not subtle. They were out in the open and we're fighting back. >> So you are suing the president on what basis? >> The president using bullying, using threats to take away our sovereignty. President doesn't get to tell us what to do. That's for us to decide. >> So when the president posts free Tina Peters, what does that say to you? I don't get it. The president appears to think that there's some injustice here.

>> She was elected by her county to uphold the elections. Instead, uh, she attacked the elections from within. Colorado's Democratic Secretary of State Jenna Griswald, who oversees state elections, said Peters helped an election conspiracy theorist pose as a county employee, gave him access to secure voting equipment, and allowed him to copy its proprietary software. >> Tina Peters ordered that her video surveillance cameras be turned off and then took images of the voting equipment and shared it with a network of election deniers. Thank you. >> Griswald discovered the breach when copies of the data surfaced at a conference devoted to claims of election fraud where Peter spoke. >> Something didn't seem right in our county. >> What was harmed by her actions, >> voting equipment, confidence in Colorado elections and American elections and election workers.

>> You let go of me. Let go of me. Peters was charged with obstruction for refusing to cooperate with an investigation into the voting machine breach. >> You're under arrest >> for what? >> Obstruction. >> She was indicted a month later on 10 criminal counts, which elevated her standing among election skeptics even higher. >> She was all smiles on her way to court in 2024. After a two-week trial, a jury found her guilty of state charges, three misdemeanors, four felonies. You are no hero. You abused your position, and you're a charlatan. >> Mesa County District Court Judge Matthew Barrett sentenced Peters to nearly 9 years in prison. >> I'm convinced you would do it all over again if you could. You're as defiant as a defendant as this court has ever seen. Matt Crane, who leads the Colorado County Clerks Association, says Peter's actions and the president's support for her have fueled distrust of election workers, making them targets of threats and intimidation.

>> As election officials, we don't have the kind of megaphone that the president of the United States has. He has much more ability to spread disinformation and lies about our election process um than we do to spread the truth about what really happens. >> And you are a Republican? >> I am a Republican. Yes, sir. >> This is not a partisan issue for you. >> This is not a partisan issue. >> But in May of 2025, President Trump made it one. He called Peters a hostage, being held in a Colorado prison by the Democrats for political reasons. He also called her a patriot. I feel like we're in Alice in Wonderland. When someone breaks the law, they're not a patriot. When someone seeks to undermine the integrity of our elections, lying about it, that's not a patriotic act. That's undermining the core, the foundation of a democratic republic. President Trump issued a pardon for Peters, but it had no legal effect since she was convicted on state, not federal charges.

>> He puts Tina in jail for 9 years. President Trump continued to build up Peters while tearing into Colorado Governor Jared Polus. >> The governor of Colorado is a weak and a pathetic man. >> President Trump is known for using colorful language. He called you the sleasag governor of Colorado. >> I mean, whatever he wants to call me uh is fine. >> He called you a sleas bag. He called Tina Peters a hostage. Uh, it's not a fair characterization of of Tina Peters. >> Governor Polus said he fully agreed with the jury's conviction of Tina Peters, but felt her sentence was too long. Look, she should have gotten a year, 2 years, 3 years. When she got close to 9 years, I was shocked. Many people were shocked. >> In May, after Peters had served less than 2 years, Mr. Polus commuted her sentence and set her free. The county clerks said they were furious and disgusted.

>> It was a complete betrayal of the election community here. >> So why do you think Governor Polus commuted her sentence? >> I mean, as simple as it is, he bent the knee to President Trump. >> You've heard all the blowback from your critics. They say that you caved to the president. Did you? >> No. This would have been much easier to do had the president never mentioned her. This was a non-violent elderly first-time offender who got a longer sentence than she should have. Straightforward case. >> But the governor's critics question his timing. The courts were in the middle of reconsidering her sentence when Mr. Polus stepped in. >> The legal process was still ongoing. So why did you intervene? >> I had what I needed to to act. >> But why why jump in before the the court had rendered its final decision? Well, I mean, look, the there is no timeline for commutations and pardons. Whenever I make up my mind, but when it's made up, it's made up. There's no reason to delay. >> You said you believe, and as you put it, in the value of mercy and redemption, but you said that that certainly also means taking responsibility. Has Tina Peters shown that she's taken responsibility for what she did?

>> I hope that she understands that what she did was wrong. Um, she wishes presumably that she did it in a legal way rather than an illegal way. >> But since her release, >> everybody give Tina a hug. >> Peters is back on the election denial circuit. >> So many people just want to hear what you have to say. She attended a fraud fighter summit in Las Vegas. >> Tina, thank you so much. We all salute you and it's good to see you out of that hell hole. >> Went on Alex Jones's podcast and met with President Trump at the White House. When we met with Tina Peters in August, she was unapologetic and argued the ends justify the means. >> The bottom line is, can people trust these machines? Can they really trust these machines? My answer is no. >> Show me the evidence that the paper ballot results differed from the computerized results. Well, my place is not to show um you know pick out different things of what h what could have happened. Mine was I was authorized to uh protect the election records according to 52 USC uh 70201 uh which is a federal mandate to preserve election records.

>> More than 60 lawsuits were filed alleging voter fraud in the 2020 election and they were either dismissed or withdrawn. There were multiple investigations by federal, state, and local investigators, many of them Republican. None of them found evidence of fraud that would have changed the outcome of the election. Is it possible that you're wrong? >> You know, I'm not going to debate about what's happening in um across the country in that regard. All I know is that I was the election official in charge of preserving election records and those election records were wiped from the system. >> We checked the wiping she speaks of turned out to be part of a routine system update of voting machines across the state. County Clerk's Association Director Matt Crane, a Republican, says all election results were preserved.

It's kind of like the updates all of us do for our phones. >> That's correct. That's correct. Only a lot more secure and a lot more intentional. >> Tina Peters has said that she was just protecting election data. >> Yes. >> What's wrong with what she said? >> The fact that every record that was required under federal and state law for retention, her staff had already backed up. >> You took an oath. >> Mhm. I did. >> To do this job. >> Yes. >> Why turn off the security cameras? >> It was not against the law. >> You gave an outsider fake credentials. >> Okay. Oh, we're getting into it now. >> Did you break the law? >> Did I Are you're asking me if I broke the law? They said I broke the law. >> You were prosecuted by a Republican district attorney. >> Doesn't matter >> in a Republican county. >> Doesn't matter. >> What makes you think your conviction was unjust? >> Because I do believe these machines can be breached. >> You plan to run for office?

>> I plan to do. I'm a I'm a very I'm a I'm a woman of faith. Um, I believe that what God brings you to, he'll see you through. And I'm willing to to do whatever needs to be done to save this country. >> Tina Peters got out of prison and delayed federal funds are flowing to Colorado again. $47 million of water projects was unfrozen. Also, last month, the Trump administration approved federal wildfire aid for the state.