Trump Administration Canceled $100 Million-Plus Colorado Grants After Tina Peters Case
Updated
Updated · The New York Times · Aug 15
Trump Administration Canceled $100 Million-Plus Colorado Grants After Tina Peters Case
2 articles · Updated · The New York Times · Aug 15
Summary
A Dec. 15 White House email urged five federal agencies to “prioritize Colorado” for immediate action, and the next day the Transportation and Energy departments canceled hundreds of millions of dollars in grants.
Emily Underwood, a White House special assistant, called the urgent brainstorm after Trump fumed over Colorado’s imprisonment of Tina Peters, a former county clerk convicted in a voting-machine tampering plot.
Colorado officials said the email, disclosed in a federal court hearing Tuesday, is their clearest evidence yet that the administration used federal funding to retaliate over the state’s mail-ballot system and Peters’ conviction.
The email itself did not mention Peters and has not been publicly released; its contents were read aloud in a Denver courtroom, with the hearing transcript later reviewed by the New York Times.