MAGA podcaster claims Mike Lindell spurred Trump to have DOJ intervene in Tina Peters case

After Lindell mentioned Peters to Trump, Trump allegedly told his lawyers to “get her … out of jail” and “called the Justice Department to get on it”

Written by Alex Kaplan

Published

Steve Stern — a right-wing podcaster who claims to be “a leading advocate” for so-called “election integrity” and boasts ties to former Trump advisor Steve Bannon, former national security adviser Michael Flynn, and MyPillow CEO Mike Lindell — claimed that Lindell was directly involved with the Trump administration’s attempt to legally intervene in former Mesa County clerk Tina Peters’ criminal conviction under Colorado law.

In August 2024, Peters was convicted in Colorado of “three counts of attempting to influence a public servant, one count of conspiracy to commit criminal impersonation, first-degree official misconduct, violation of duty and failing to comply with the secretary of state.” Most of the state charges related to the accusation that she used “someone else’s security badge to give an expert affiliated with” Lindell “access to the Mesa County election system.” Some right-wing media figures and election deniers, including Lindell, criticized her prosecution.

On March 3, President Donald Trump’s Department of Justice asked a federal judge to consider releasing Peters, claiming that “reasonable concerns” had been raised about the case and that it had possibly been “motivated by a desire to inflict ‘political pain’” on her.

Stern — who regularly streams so-called “election security” meetings on Rumble — appeared on the right-wing show The Nunn Report two weeks later, claiming that Lindell, who has spent years trying to prove the 2020 election was stolen from Trump, was directly involved with the Justice Department’s intervention. Lindell has several ties to Peters and her case, with the two sharing at least one lawyer, Patrick McSweeney, and the FBI allegedly seizing Lindell’s phone and specifically asking him about Peters.

According to Stern, “about three weeks ago, Mike Lindell was up with President Trump, one of our people with him” — seemingly referring to Lindell’s February 21 visit to the White House. Stern claimed that Lindell had mentioned Peters to Trump, and that in response, Trump told his attorneys to “get her … out of jail” and “called the Justice Department to get on it.”

From the March 18, 2025, edition of The Nunn Report, streamed on Rumble

STEVE STERN (RIGHT-WING PODCASTER): One of my most important things — and I want your people to understand — the most important person in the United States right now is Tina Peters. We’re trying to get Tina Peters out of jail. We're going to have her attorney on, Patrick McSweeney. 

And we — about three weeks ago, Mike Lindell was up with President Trump, one of our people with him, and Mike turns to President Trump and says, “Tina Peters.” And President Trump turns to his four attorneys and said, “Get her the … out of jail.” I don’t want to use this on the program, but that’s what he — that’s what he used, a little bit profanity, but I’m not going to use it. And he called the Justice Department to get on it.

The following day, Stern repeated the claim in another Rumble stream, and then on March 20, during one of Stern’s “election integrity” meetings streamed on his Rumble channel, McSweeney said that the Justice Department’s intervention was a “welcome addition to this case, and it’s obviously affected the attitude of the state attorney general.”