DENVER — Tina Peters was released from a Pueblo prison Monday after a commutation from Gov. Jared Polis ended both her 20-month incarceration and a months-long pressure campaign by President Donald Trump.

The former Mesa County clerk left the La Vista Correctional Facility before the press arrived Monday morning, her attorney said, just over two weeks after Polis cut short her sentence and ordered her swift release.

In an interview on Trump ally Steve Bannon’s YouTube show after leaving prison, Peters said she “still (has) a fight to clear my name and bring out the truth for why they came after me the way they did.” She reiterated her baseless claims of election fraud and said her prison term was “retribution.”

Peters thanked Trump, to whom she’d written two letters while inside the Pueblo facility. She said she intended to focus on her health and was interested in advocating for criminal justice reform after her experience in prison.

“I’d been promised so many times, you’ll be out in two weeks, two weeks, two weeks,” Peters said. “… I really didn’t believe it, but I’ve always had hope. God’s always given me the hope and the strength to endure.”

Under the terms of her release, which was confirmed by state officials Monday, Peters must undergo cognitive behavioral therapy, receive a mental health assessment and take prescribed medications, according to a copy of her parole agreement obtained through a public records request.

Unless waived by her parole office, she must get a job or enroll in full-time educational courses, and she has to participate in a community corrections program and cannot possess firearms, alcohol or drugs.

The agreement also references, but doesn’t detail, a restraining order and directs Peters, 70, to comply with it. She is also prohibited from leaving the state without the permission of her Grand Junction parole officer. Public records indicate Peters did not receive a parole hearing before her release. Her parole agreement was signed May 28.

State officials completed a pre-parole investigation of her home last week and identified no issues, according to her internal prison file.

Last month, Peters’ legal team filed an appeal with the state Supreme Court in a bid to have her convictions overturned.

Dan Rubinstein, the Mesa County district attorney who prosecuted Peters, said Monday that he was unaware of Peters’ parole conditions. He otherwise declined to comment.

“Tina wants everyone to know that it is easy to lose one’s freedom, but it is difficult to endure. She is grateful to all of her friends, reporters, attorneys and loved ones for being so true through the period,” Peters attorney Peter Ticktin said in a statement.

Peters was sentenced to a total of nine years in jail and prison in October 2024. She was convicted of four felonies and three misdemeanors for overseeing a plot to grant an unauthorized third party access to secure voting systems. A key ally of Donald Trump, Peters’ conviction and incarceration became a rallying cry for the president and his election-conspiracist allies.

Peters “is grateful to President Trump for never giving up on her, never quitting, and for fighting for her. Without his efforts, she would still be behind bars,” Ticktin wrote in his statement.

Peters’ release, authorized by Polis’ commutation last month, had long been expected: He had publicly mused that her sentence was too long, and his office had discussed her commutation with other officials, including the judge who sentenced her. Other state officials became resigned to the seeming imminence of a Polis commutation.

Late last year, the Trump administration sought to transfer her into federal custody. When that failed, Trump publicly blasted Polis. He then vetoed legislation that would’ve funded a water pipeline in southeast Colorado, and his administration moved to gut Boulder’s National Center for Atmospheric Research. Several Democratic officials accused Trump of retaliating against the state because of Peters, and when Polis’ commutation was announced, U.S. Rep. Lauren Boebert told 9News that “Tina was the reason we couldn’t get water.”

In the weeks since Peters’ commutation, some federal funding has flowed to projects involving the state. Tens of millions of delayed dollars for the Colorado River were released last month. On Monday, Polis’ office announced that $1.8 million for small business development — which had also been held up — had been released.

Polis’ office did not immediately respond to a message seeking comment on the federal funding Monday morning.

Throughout the first months of the year, Polis had continued to float the idea that Peters’ sentence was harsh. Amid pressure from incensed lawmakers and other elected officials, his office privately told legislators that the governor would wait to make a decision on her sentence until an appeals court weighed in.

In April, the Colorado Court of Appeals upheld Peters’ convictions but ordered that she must be resentenced, finding that her trial judge had based part of his original sentence on Peters’ speech. Polis’ commutation came several weeks later. The governor argued that Peters had been unfairly sentenced and that he didn’t want to wait for her appeals and resentencing to be concluded because they would take too long.

Polis’ decision has sparked sharp recrimination from other Democrats. He was censured in an overwhelming vote by the state Democratic Party’s central committee, prompting Polis to appear on a subsequent party video call with black tape over his mouth.

The criticism continued Monday. In a statement, Secretary of State Jena Griswold called Polis’ decision to commute Peters’ sentence “an affront to our democracy, the people of Colorado and election officials across the country.

“It sends a dangerous message about accountability for those who would attack elections,” Griswold wrote. “Peters’ release also will embolden the election denial movement; since the grant of clemency, she has continued to spread election falsehoods and conspiracies.”

In her interview with Bannon on Monday, Peters defended Polis and criticized the “horrible media” for its coverage of the commutation.

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