2026-08-22T10:00:29.592Z / https://www.cnn.com/2026/08/22/politics/tina-peters-election-denier-trump
出狱两个月后，选举否认者蒂娜·彼得斯本周前往华盛顿与特朗普政府官员举行高级别会议，推销她的计划：在11月中期选举前动用紧急权力，对选举实施前所未有的联邦管控。
此次华盛顿之行中，彼得斯会见了商务部长霍华德·卢特尼克以及司法部民权 division 负责人，这是她全国巡回宣传其全面改革美国选举愿景的最新一站。
今年6月她的刑期被提前减免后，她重获自由，并借此机会继续散布她一贯的关于投票机器操纵选举的虚假言论，在各类会议上发表演讲，并做客右翼播客节目。
这些阴谋论正是彼得斯在科罗拉多州刑事诉讼的核心罪名。她曾担任梅萨县书记员，因一项闯入选举系统的计划被判州级罪名成立，该计划旨在证明2020年总统选举结果存在欺诈性。
彼得斯出狱后的“重生”得益于科罗拉多州民主党州长贾里德·波利斯，他为其减刑，让她在9年刑期的服刑不到两年时就得以提前释放。**
前总统唐纳德·特朗普无法赦免彼得斯的州级罪行，转而发起了长达一年的施压运动，要求波利斯放人，期间他扣留联邦资金、关闭科罗拉多州的联邦办事处，并否决了一项关键水利工程。此举让彼得斯的困境受到更多关注，也将她打造成了“让美国再次伟大”运动的英雄——但选举官员对她深恶痛绝，称其行为和言论破坏了民主进程。
出狱几周后，她前往白宫与唐纳德·特朗普总统共进私人午餐。特朗普与她持有许多共同目标，但尚未公开支持她的提案。
“她有一个计划，”她的律师彼得·蒂金告诉CNN。“我不知道她能否获得支持以推动计划实施。但关键在于，总有人需要挺身而出，推进此事。”
与此同时，加利福尼亚州一位志同道合的选举官员为彼得斯提供了一份选举安全顾问的工作。蒂金表示，她正在考虑该提议。
彼得斯的这些举动既在意料之中，也早被广泛预测，这让此前诸多科罗拉多州选举官员和检察官都感到“果然不出所料”——他们曾辩称，释放彼得斯可能会给中期选举带来风险。
其中一位官员是科罗拉多州总检察长菲尔·韦泽，他如今是民主党州长候选人，其办公室曾协助起诉彼得斯。他对彼得斯本周在华盛顿受到的热烈欢迎表示愤慨。
“她是一名罪犯，曾破坏选举和选举设备，且毫无悔意……这也是她被判重刑的原因，”韦泽说。“可如今，她却四处开展所谓的竞选活动，在白宫受到追捧，还将她的阴谋论带向全国各地。”
波利斯在给CNN的一份声明中为减刑决定辩护，但同时表示，对于彼得斯继续“传播毫无根据且不准确的言论”和选举“阴谋论”，他“感到失望，但并不意外”。
“我们的监狱不是再教育营，”波利斯说。“人们出狱时的信念通常和入狱时一致。她依然享有言论自由权，和我们所有人一样。虽然我不同意她的言论，但我不赞同因言论而入狱，只要她遵守法律和假释条款。”
尽管现年70岁的彼得斯已提前获释，但她仍是重刑犯，仍需遵守假释条件。科罗拉多州惩教部门的一名官员告诉CNN，彼得斯已获得本周前往华盛顿的许可，“并已按要求提交了必要的旅行许可”。
彼得斯周二与哈米特·迪伦共进午餐，迪伦本人也是2020年选举的否认者，如今担任司法部民权 division 负责人。迪伦一直是特朗普政府施压各州采纳其青睐的选举政策的关键人物，这些政策包括邮寄投票和选民身份证要求等。
“蒂娜·彼得斯和我在国会山共进了愉快的午餐并展开讨论！她是一位鼓舞人心的女士！”迪伦在X平台上发帖称，并补充说她们还聊了时尚话题。
司法部未回应CNN的置评请求。
针对迪伦与彼得斯的午餐会面，韦泽表示：“司法部的职责是执法，可该部门有人却在庆祝一名定罪重犯，因为她让我们的选举变得更不安全，这简直反常。”
彼得斯还发布了一张与卢特尼克的合影，并配文：“期待更多成果，以巩固我们的选举。”
她大肆宣扬了前一天人口普查局发布的一项不同寻常的声明，该局隶属于卢特尼克领导的商务部。该局称其开展了一项新的审查，发现2020年大选中有2.4万张非公民选票。（选举专家对这一调查结果提出了批评。）
商务部未回应CNN的置评请求。
尽管她作为梅萨县选举书记员曾因渎职被判有罪，但她可能很快就会重返公职——只不过这次是在加利福尼亚州。
克林特·柯蒂斯是一名自称“选举诚信”活动人士，现任沙斯塔县书记员兼选民登记官。他近日表示，希望彼得斯填补其办公室的一个空缺职位。蒂金表示，彼得斯对该工作机会持开放态度。
“显然，她还在考虑中，”柯蒂斯周三在接受CNN采访时说。“我不确定她会不会接受，她真的很忙。”
柯蒂斯本人也是个争议人物，今年连任失败，还遭到沙斯塔县监事会谴责，监事会称其“否认不当行为”，并“谴责”他“公然违反”职业行为准则。
柯蒂斯否认有任何不当行为，他表示彼得斯的重刑犯身份不会阻碍她获得这份工作。他说，她可以以顾问身份加入其办公室，担任监督角色，为选举安全提供建议。
“她不会接触我们投票系统的任何登录权限，”柯蒂斯说。“这样就能避免有人指控她可能破坏任何东西。”
即便这份工作未能敲定，蒂金表示，彼得斯出狱后的情况已经好转。
蒂金说，她的脸色恢复了红润，在狱中恶化的健康问题也得到缓解。而且她在狱中意识到，大声说出自己的想法可能“会有人想杀你”后，正重新找回信心。
今年6月下旬，彼得斯走出拉维斯塔惩教所仅几周后，就走进椭圆形办公室与特朗普合影留念，这给她带来了极大的士气鼓舞。
蒂金作为“随行人员”与彼得斯一同前往白宫，他们与特朗普以及白宫法律顾问戴维·沃林顿共进午餐。CNN获得的照片显示，副总统JD·万斯和国务卿马可·卢比奥也接见了彼得斯和蒂金。
“我来自纽约——我们不会轻易被打动，”蒂金说。“但那次经历真的很特别。这是我人生中最棒的经历之一。”
彼得斯结束此次华盛顿之行后，周三表示她将乘坐5小时火车前往弗吉尼亚州看望年迈的母亲。
“很累，但很高兴能有所作为，”她写道。
After prison release, Tina Peters takes her election conspiracy roadshow to Washington
2026-08-22T10:00:29.592Z / https://www.cnn.com/2026/08/22/politics/tina-peters-election-denier-trump
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.”
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.
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.”
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.