The Department of Justice has stepped in to support former Mesa County Clerk Tina Peters, who was convicted for allowing supporters of President Donald Trump to access confidential data related to the 2020 election. Acting U.S. Assistant Attorney General Yaakov M. Roth filed a submission in federal court in Colorado, expressing concerns about Peters’ prosecution and indicating a review of potential abuses of the criminal justice process. Peters, a figure in the pro-Trump movement questioning the 2020 election results, has garnered support for her release, including calls for a pardon from Colorado’s Democratic governor.

This intervention by the Justice Department in Peters’ case reflects a broader trend of the administration leveraging federal power to advance political interests. The move is seen as particularly significant given that it involves a state-level prosecution initiated by an elected Republican prosecutor. The case against Peters, sentenced to nine years, centers on a breach of election systems that exposed sensitive information and raised concerns about election security vulnerabilities.

Critics, including Colorado Secretary of State Jena Griswold, have condemned the Justice Department’s involvement, accusing the Trump administration of weaponizing legal proceedings to perpetuate election falsehoods. The case has sparked debate over the implications for election integrity and the politicization of law enforcement. Amid a backdrop of efforts to weaken election security measures, the administration’s actions in the Peters case have drawn scrutiny and criticism from election security experts and observers.