Denver — Colorado U.S. Senator Michael Bennet called on Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.) and Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) to launch immediate investigations into the Trump administration’s use of federal agencies, grants, and personnel to carry out the President’s political vendetta against Colorado.
The call for the Senate to investigate the role the Departments of Agriculture, Energy, Interior and Transportation as well as the Office of Management and Budget played follows new evidence that the White House coordinated efforts to punish Colorado and its residents in an effort to secure Tina Peters’ release.
“The Trump Administration’s coordinated weaponization of the federal bureaucracy – intended to compel Colorado to pardon an individual convicted of state crimes in state court – is unprecedented, and strikes at the core of our democracy and our Constitution’s federal architecture,” wrote Bennet.
As part of an ongoing lawsuit, new evidence revealed an email sent by a White House special assistant inviting federal employees from five federal agencies and offices to a “brainstorm call” to “discuss immediate actions that [their agency] can take with respect to Colorado.” The email was sent just hours before Trump attacked Colorado leadership for not releasing former Mesa County Clerk and Recorder Tina Peters from state prison. Peters was found guilty by a jury of her peers of four state felonies and three misdemeanors related to election interference.
“Allowing this unconstitutional overreach to go unchallenged sets a dangerous precedent, and unsettles the relationship between states and the federal government. No state should be subject to punitive measures for decisions that simply happen to go against a sitting president’s desires – and no American should be denied relief from floods and wildfires, or see their opportunity for clean water ripped away, simply because they happen to live in a state at odds with a given administration,” wrote Bennet.
In the days following the December email, the Trump administration took a series of actions targeting Colorado. It cut grant funding; denied two requests for disaster relief related to the Lee and Elk fires and flooding in Southwest Colorado; threatened SNAP benefits for more than 100,000 Colorado families; and sought to dismantle the National Center for Atmospheric Research in Boulder. In the final days of the year, Trump issued the first veto of his second presidential term, blocking bipartisan legislation that would have completed the long-promised Arkansas Valley Conduit and delivered clean drinking water to 50,000 Coloradans.
“The President – unable to accomplish his objective legally – resorted to a campaign of coercion. But the nature of this assault is not confined to Colorado alone. Today, no state, and no citizen, can assume they are safe from similar methods of intimidation. That should concern us all,” wrote Bennet.
Bennet has consistently fought against Trump’s weaponization of the federal government. In January, Bennet led the entire Colorado delegation in support of Governor Jared Polis’ appeal to Trump’s targeted denial of Major Disaster Declarations for the Lee and Elk Fires and the Southwest Colorado flooding. He then introduced legislation to ensure that no President could deny disaster aid as part of a political vendetta. In January, Bennet spoke on the Senate floor for nearly an hour to highlight the importance of NCAR. On the final day of 2025, Bennet and Senator John Hickenlooper (D-Colo.) slammed Trump for vetoing their bipartisan Finish the Arkansas Valley Conduit Act. In December 2025, Bennet and Hickenlooper issued a joint statement in response to reports that the Trump administration plans to dismantle the NCAR in Boulder and cancel millions in transportation and energy grants designated for Colorado. In October 2025, he issued a statement following the Trump administration’s targeted cancellation of billions of dollars in funding for energy projects across the country.
The text of the letter is available HERE and below.
Majority Leader Thune and Minority Leader Schumer:
I write to request that the relevant committees of the United States Senate immediately investigate the use of federal departments, federal grants, and federal employees to systematically punish the State of Colorado and its residents. The Trump Administration’s coordinated weaponization of the federal bureaucracy – intended to compel Colorado to pardon an individual convicted of state crimes in state court – is unprecedented, and strikes at the core of our democracy and our Constitution’s federal architecture.
As you know, last week, a pending lawsuit revealed new evidence confirming the White House’s willful targeting of Colorado. In an email, sent at 2:43am on December 15, 2025, a White House special assistant directed individuals from the Departments of Transportation, Agriculture, Interior, Energy, and the Office of Management and Budget to join a “brainstorm call” to discuss “immediate actions that [their agencies] can take with respect to Colorado.” This email was a clear and direct continuation of President Trump’s effort to secure former Mesa County Clerk and Recorder Tina Peters’ release from state prison, after a jury of her peers found her guilty of four state felonies and multiple misdemeanors. President Trump raised the issue again within hours of the email being sent, criticizing Colorado Governor Jared Polis for not allowing “our wonderful Tina to come out of a jail, in a high intensity jail, because she caught people cheating on an election that they said she was cheating.”
Over the following days, the Trump Administration cut grant funding to Colorado, denied two requests for disaster relief aid, scrutinized the State’s food stamp program, and attempted to dismantle the National Center for Atmospheric Research in Boulder. This barrage culminated in President Trump’s decision to veto bipartisan legislation that would have completed the Arkansas Valley Conduit, a pipeline project to deliver clean drinking water to 50,000 Coloradans. It was the first veto of his second term.
Presidential administrations are entitled to advance their political priorities – part of the presidency’s power is the ability to direct the executive branch in a manner that aligns with their policy preferences. But that authority does not and has never included the absolute ability to dictate terms to states, which retain elements of sovereignty in their own right. This is a fundamental precept of our federalist system of government, and is especially true in the realm of state sentences and state convictions handed down by state courts.
Moreover, the case at issue here offers no room for claims of federal preemption. There is no policy difference being adjudicated that pits Colorado against the federal government, nor has Congress passed legislation that would override state law. Instead, the Administration is attempting to use the overwhelming power of the executive branch – grant determinations and disaster aid, nutrition benefits and the location of federal facilities – to force action that is inarguably within Colorado’s exclusive sphere of authority.
Allowing this unconstitutional overreach to go unchallenged sets a dangerous precedent, and unsettles the relationship between states and the federal government. No state should be subject to punitive measures for decisions that simply happen to go against a sitting president’s desires – and no American should be denied relief from floods and wildfires, or see their opportunity for clean water ripped away, simply because they happen to live in a state at odds with a given administration.
The President – unable to accomplish his objective legally – resorted to a campaign of coercion. But the nature of this assault is not confined to Colorado alone. Today, no state, and no citizen, can assume they are safe from similar methods of intimidation. That should concern us all.
The Senate must investigate this coordinated effort when we return in September. Coloradans, and all Americans, deserve to know the truth.
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