Watchdog Launches Investigation Into Tina Peters’ Access to Trump Admin, Federal Election Officials Ahead of Midterms

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Today, American Oversight launched an investigation into the Trump administration’s contacts with Tina Peters, the former Mesa County, Colorado, clerk convicted on felony state charges stemming from a breach of her county’s voting systems. Peters reportedly met with President Donald Trump at the White House on Oct. 5 amid her push to get rid of voting machines, a rallying cry of election deniers who have spent years spreading debunked claims about the 2020 election.

Through expedited Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests, the nonpartisan watchdog seeks records showing to what extent Peters and her allies have gained access to, and influence over, the federal agencies that help states and localities secure and administer the Nov. 3 midterm elections.

Peters was released from prison in June after Colorado’s governor commuted her sentence. She has publicly stated that she and several associates presented a plan for the 2026 midterms to the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA), and suggested that the meeting was “facilitated” by Department of Homeland Security (DHS) official Heather Honey. A July 24 letter signed by Peters, Clay Parikh, Will Huff, and Conrad Reynolds thanked Acting CISA Director Nicholas Andersen for meeting with them.

Peters has also claimed that she met with Justice Department (DOJ) officials, including Assistant Attorney General for Civil Rights Harmeet Dhillon, and said that she urged President Donald Trump to fire members of the Election Assistance Commission (EAC). Trump fired the commission’s three remaining members in July. Trump hosted Peters at the White House in June, weeks after her release. On Oct. 5, Peters reportedly met with Trump at the White House again, according to former Justice Department official Ed Martin.

The plan Peters published calls on CISA to issue a “hand-marked-paper transition guide” and calls for, where feasible, “a complete independent hand count of the federal contests” before certification. Asked about Peters’ reported meeting with the president, a DHS spokesperson said that concerns over voting processes “have made it clear that action is required.”

“Tina Peters was convicted of felonies for her role in breaching her own county’s voting systems. Now she and her allies have gained access to the highest levels of government — and have been courted by the White House — while publicly pushing plans to use federal power to interfere with how states run elections and count votes,” said Chioma Chukwu, Executive Director of American Oversight. “With the midterms just weeks away, voters deserve to know whether and how this administration is acting on those plans. Americans deserve answers, and they deserve an administration that protects their votes from those who have tried to undermine them, not one that gives election deniers a seat at the table.”

Peters’ ties to administration officials raise further questions. A tax filing for election lawyer Cleta Mitchell’s Foundation for Accountability, Integrity & Research in Elections Fund lists Honey, the DHS official Peters suggests facilitated her CISA meeting, as the group’s vice president and director. It also shows that the fund paid $72,000 to Honey’s consulting firm. Records previously obtained by American Oversight show that Ed Martin, then a senior DOJ official, forwarded Huff and Reynolds’ “Proposed Ban Plan” targeting voting machines o another senior DOJ official.

The watchdog’s expedited FOIA requests to DHS, CISA, DOJ’s Office of the Attorney General and Civil Rights Division, the EAC, and the Commerce Department seek emails, text messages, and meeting records between senior officials, including DHS Secretary Markwayne Mullin, Honey, Andersen, Dhillon, and Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, and Peters, Huff, Parikh, Reynolds, Peter Bernegger, and Peter Ticktin. The requests also seek officials’ emails with Mitchell and the White House, as well as emails containing various key terms.

The push by Peters and her associates grew out of debunked conspiracy theories about voting machines that spread after the 2020 election. Peters’ own convictions stem from a 2021 scheme in which she used another man’s identity to give a data expert with ties to election denier Mike Lindell access to her county’s Dominion voting equipment. Copies of its hard drive and passwords were later posted online.

Records obtained by American Oversight show that Huff proposed using Executive Order 13873, which addresses technology from foreign adversaries, to restrict voting machines and pushed for hand-marked, hand-counted paper ballots. Peters and Mitchell have since pressed Lutnick to act on claims that foreign-made parts make voting machines a national security risk. Earlier this year, a White House adviser pushed a plan to have the Commerce Department declare Dominion’s components a national security risk, citing debunked claims that the company’s machines were used to steal the 2020 election. The effort collapsed for lack of evidence. Election experts say an emergency declaration would not allow Trump to ban voting machines or require states to count ballots by hand.

The public has an urgent interest in understanding to what extent Peters and her associates have shaped the work of federal agencies charged with supporting state and local election officials.