President Donald J. Trump posted a confusing message on Truth Social claiming he had pardoned Tina Peters, the former Mesa County, Colorado clerk who was convicted by the state—not the federal government—in August 2024 on seven of ten charges related to a security breach carried out to promote false election-fraud conspiracies and attempt to overturn the 2024 presidential election in Trump’s favor. Peters was sentenced to nine years in prison and taken into custody in October 2024.

Today’s “pardon attempt” comes as the Justice Department, under Trump’s direction, has so far failed to secure her release from Colorado authorities, despite public threats against the state and its governor from both Trump and Attorney General Pam Bondi.