The Colorado Department of Corrections is resisting federal pressure to transfer a former Mesa County clerk to federal custody, despite Trump’s backing.

COLORADO, USA — The convicted former Mesa County clerk will remain in state custody after the Colorado Department of Corrections (CDOC) said Tuesday night that it would not respond to a Department of Justice request to take Tina Peters into federal custody.

“Requests to transfer inmates from the Colorado Department of Corrections emanate from the state, and not from other entities. The Department is not currently seeking any transfer,” said Alondra Gonzalez, a spokesperson for CDOC.

Peters is currently behind bars at the Colorado Department of Corrections, serving a nine-year prison sentence that stems from an election rigging conspiracy theory scheme. She was convicted of several felonies for allowing fellow election deniers access to local voting systems in search of voter fraud in the 2020 election, repeating Trump’s debunked claims. 

The CDOC response comes after Colorado officials petitioned Democratic Gov. Jared Polis last week not to transfer Peters to federal custody after facing pressure from the Trump administration to do so, a strategy her supporters have proposed to free her from prison.

The Federal Bureau of Prisons issued a notice on Nov. 12 to the Colorado Department of Corrections, pressing for Peters to be moved out of state custody. This came after Trump’s U.S. Pardon Attorney Ed Martin announced on a MAGA podcast that administration officials notified the state that the president wants Peters in federal custody.

President Donald Trump, who has called Peters a “hostage” and publicly voiced support for her release, would not be able to grant her a pardon while she is in state custody. Earlier this month, the Trump administration took the first official step in doing so.

This week, her attorney endorsed the idea of Trump sending in the military to get her out.

Polis had not answered 9NEWS’ questions about whether he’d bow to pressure from the federal government.