What's one example of a sticky issue you've worked with Republicans to successfully resolve during your tenure as secretary of state?

state?Well, first I, I wanna make clear that Wadhams is a former chair of the Colorado Republican Party.

He is a, a Republican partisan actor.

Uh, so I think it's really important to consider the source.

And again, my tenure has been very different than a lot of past secretaries of state.

First, I was the first Democrat elected in 60 years.

I've been the youngest secretary of state in the entire nation these last eight years.

What's an example of one approach you believe has some legs?

When you see something like that, how seriously do you take it? And what do state law enforcement officials do to prepare for all of this?

Well, I think when you hear something like that, it is outlandish and crazy.

That's the basic truth.

It would be absolutely crazy.

But do I put it past this president? Absolutely not.

He is a crazy president.

He is growing more and more extreme because his popularity is in the gutters.

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You said, "You can return your ballot however you want." At the end of the day, what are you recommending to voters, right? If, if they have all the options before them, what is the best and safest way to vote?

Colorado has run vote by mail elections now for over a decade, uh, and we affirmatively mail every eligible voter a ballot, but they can choose to return it by mail, at a dropbox, and, um, uh, of course vote in person if they so choose.

And we have really increased our elections to withstand, uh, these, the attacks from the federal administration.

We've increased election security.

We've increased dropboxes, 70% more dropboxes, and rolled out innovations like ballot tracking, so voters can actually see, just like they would track an Amazon package, that their ballot is fine from when it's sent to when it's counted.

So mail ballots are absolutely safe and secure, and I encourage voters in Colorado to vote in whatever way is m- most, uh, accommodating to them, uh, whether that's returning it by, uh, the mail, at a dropbox, or in person.

But I, I do think it's important to note that we are not the only people to, uh, sing the praises of, of mail ballots.

What would you say to voters in your state who are concerned about their voter data and whether or not it is secure?

And they're

printed long ago there.

So I just certified the ballot a couple of days ago.

OK, but the envelopes that the ballots go in are largely printed.

We have to the county clerks have to urgently print now to make sure that they are ready to hit the mail stream.

And I think at the end of the day, a state like Colorado, we have in-person voting if someone chooses.

But we mail a ballot to every active voter.

I mean, they've split the baby more than once.

Same question, what does that mean practically? Are there sections of state consumer protection statute that are being under-enforced right now? And if so, what are they and how do you intend to enforce them more thoroughly? Yeah.

I do think it's important, Ed, to frame that question in not only protecting Coloradans, but also Colorado businesses.

If there is a rule or a law that a business is not following, that's giving them an unfair advantage.

So it's really important to make sure that our laws are being complied with, whether that's consumer protection, antitrust, et cetera, for a lot of people, a lot of people.

I would say, you know, again, as a precursor, we're just in a different spot than we were two years ago.

The Trump administration has gutted many of the agencies that were supposed to protect us from illegal business practices.

Those agencies are no longer enforcing.

So tell us first, what's your experience with water law? And second, what would be your general strategy to guarding the state's water interests?

When you hear about this whistleblower report tonight and their concerns about this, are you worried that all of those voters are not going to be able to get a ballot?

Well, first, thanks for having me.

And I think it's abundantly clear that Trump is trying to use the Postal Service to decide which voters get a ballot.

Right now, the Postal Service is blocked from implementing his executive order.

That is the legal basis from the Postal Service intervening in elections.

The case is ongoing.

But I do think it's highly concerning what the whistleblower has announced.

Is that how you is that your understanding of what the Postal Service has been doing?

Yeah.

Uh, so a, a judge, as, as you mentioned, has temporarily blocked, uh, has, uh, issued a temporary restraining order against the United States Postal Service from implementing, uh, its, its plans to cherry-pick which voters get a, a ballot.

Uh, at the end of the day, I am optimistic.

Um, but make no mistake, this is about Trump trying to suppress the vote, inject chaos, and we are and will continue to fight back to protect the 26 elections and every eligible voter's right to vote.

Right.

A lot of the plans has, have already been made, and the big overhauls, um, to, uh, would be extremely challenging.

Extremely challenging, if not impossible.

Um, so I, I do think that, um, you know, the, the clock is running down.

Your concerns then about how else they might try to restrict voting?

We are seeing the attack on 2026 play out right now.

And as I mentioned, Trump has issued two executive orders during his second term on elections, trying to gain unlawful control over elections.

The Constitution is very clear.

States oversee elections, not this president.

Luckily, he has been losing, but we are seeing every apparatus of the federal government really be used in an anti-voting, anti-democratic way.

This is a president who claims massive fraud, but one of his first acts was to disband the FBI and DHS's work on influence counter foreign attacks.

But I wonder, 1,000 monitors, the fact that it's being previewed right now by someone like Harmeet Dhillon, who calls someone like Tina Peters an inspiring lady, what does that say to you?

If elected attorney general, how would you build on that record? What would be your top priorities when it comes to defending Colorado, its elections, and the rule of law?

Well, like I said, it's been an honor serving as secretary of state and, and pushing back, working with our current attorney general to defend our freedoms.

And the bottom line is we're facing a rogue administration that's breaking the law and undermining the Constitution left and right.

I'm going to work with the next secretary of state to protect the right to vote.

We're seeing major fights play out right now as Trump is trying to grab onto power.

Uh, I look forward to, to getting in that fight and defending American democracy and elections and, of course, our state.

Reverend, I, I'm also very passionate a- about standing up for women, making sure that women are full citizens in the United States of America.

A- a- as you look ahead to this year's midterms, and even to the 2028 presidential race, what concern, what's your cur- level of concern about the threats facing our election system? And, and what do you believe needs to happen now to protect voters' confidence in the process?

Can I ask, when you communicate with Republican colleagues in different states, Are they on board of what they're being asked to do?

Well, that's a great question.

I think it depends.

There is definitely some Republican secretaries of state who have drank the Kool-Aid, very unfortunately.

But we've also seen chief election officers who are Republicans stand up to this administration.

A couple weeks ago, the DOJ sent out a threatening letter to chief election officials across the nation, and you heard strong Republican pushback.

So I think it's important to recognize there are Republicans standing up, especially at the local level.

So what is the Democratic state argument? And how do you expect Justice Katonji Brown Jackson, who will be considering Trump's application, to respond?

Um, tell people why w- Donald Trump would want voter file records and individual voter records in the states.

I, I think it boils down to, um, w- wanting to suppress the vote or purge the vote, right? So they, they've been trying to get at the sensitive voter data in, in all different ways, um, and luckily we're, we're continuing to block them.

First, they ask nicely.

We say no.

They sue us.

Um, they're losing those cases.

Then Trump or, or his administration realizes, "Okay, uh, the secretaries of state are, are not bending over.

Yes, you did

And let's note, a Republican-led investigation looked into Michigan's 2020 election and found no evidence of widespread or systematic fraud, right? So is the federal government within its rights to observe polling sites? Because I'm curious where the line is between oversight and disruption or interference.

So we've seen since 2016, if not before, Trump really lean into his big lie.

And he has been doubling down on it, the lie about the elections in this country.

And honestly, I imagine it's because he knows that MAGA and his movement may face tremendous losses.

So they're laying the groundwork to undermine the 26th election.

As long as observers are following the law, it's fine.

But of course, it's illegal under state and federal law in Colorado and in many states to disrupt the peaceful administration of an election.

Does that even make sense? Isn't that what their job is?

Um, "Any election officer, including the chief election officer of the state, who knowingly retains citizens on the state voter registration list or facilitates non-citizens in receiving and casting ballots could be subject to criminal liability." What'd you think when you read that?

Well, first, Chris, thanks for having me on, as always.

Uh, and I, I think it's a, a threat.

Uh, the DOJ is threatening the state's 50 chief election officers.

That's what it is.

And this is fundamentally is intimidation to try to push states to give the federal government some type of control over state-run elections.

We're not going to allow them to have control.

D- yeah, do you get a sense the Republicans who got this were a little cheesed off?

Your reaction to what the secretary just said there.

No voter should, uh, await intimidation at the ballot box.

Uh, and this administration is clearly hoping to, uh, intimidate or suppress the vote.

Uh, the new DHS secretary is an election denier.

Uh, so unfortunately, it is not surprising to, to hear that from him.

Uh, and, uh, uh, to be very clear, it is illegal under federal law for any type of federal law enforcement, uh, to interfere with th- the, the administration of American elections.

Uh, so y- you know, I, I think, to an extent, uh, this is an attempt to spook Americans, to spook Americans, uh, into self-suppression, and we just have to be strong.

If this is passed before November, how is it going to impact elections in Colorado and the actual election administration process?

Like, what is it intended to do? What would it mean for your state?

Well, thanks for having me on, Chris.

Um, the, the intention, I, I believe, is to suppress the vote.

It's to allow Trump to try to federalize elections, to put his thumb on who gets a ballot and who doesn't get a ballot.

And let's take a couple steps back.

Trump has been going after voter data on American voters since the beginning of his first term.

Uh, the DOJ, uh, back, back, uh, last year started to request this data.

Yeah, yeah, my fault.

Um, so what now, do you think?

Well, we, we keep on doing what, what we're doing.

Colorado is one of the strongest states for elections in the entire country.

That will not change because Tina Peters has been released.

We have multi-factor, uh, uh, multi layers of election security.

Uh, we led, I've led bill after bi- bill with our legislature increasing our security posture, including, by the way, uh, having a bill put into law after Tina Peters breached her system to make it absolutely sh- uh, crystal clear it's a felony to breach systems.

Uh, but the threat environment continues to be very high.

Um, what's your take on that, and also the fund's existence itself?

Yeah

... uh, lots of things that were illegal.

Uh, so the, the, the big picture of what Tina Peters did, she was a sitting county clerk.

So in Colorado, we have 64 counties.

Every county have, has a county clerk that's, uh, executing the election.

So what she did is, um, arranged to steal partial passwords from my office to voting equipment, uh, worked with leading conspiracy theorists, let someone else into voting equipment, and they ended up compromising it.

Uh, we discovered it back in '21, um, and, and didn't...

Right.

Yeah

... uh, lots of things that were illegal.

Uh, so the, the, the big picture of what Tina Peters did, she was a sitting county clerk.

So in Colorado, we have 64 counties.

Every county have, has a county clerk that's, uh, executing the election.

So what she did is, um, arranged to steal partial passwords from my office to voting equipment, uh, worked with leading conspiracy theorists, let someone else into voting equipment, and they ended up compromising it.

Uh, we discovered it back in '21, um, and, and didn't...

Right.

To my mind, trying to overturn a free and fair presidential election requires some serious punishment.

Well, good morning.

Thanks for having me on.

Uh, truly, I believe this grant of clemency is a gross injustice to the people of Colorado, to our democracy, and to our nation, and it really sets a dangerous precedent on, on various levels.

Tina Peters was no political prisoner.

She compromised her voting equipment trying to prove Trump's big lie.

Uh, her actions and then her lies and, and conspiracies about her actions were used to further destabilize our elections and increase the threat level to election officials.

Mm-hmm.

What's your r- response to, to what you just heard from him?

Well, overall, I, I think this is the wrong decision, and it's a gross injustice to our elections, our democracy, and election officials across this country.

Uh, and frankly, Tina Peters' actions has everything to do with the 2020 election.

The governor is correct that she, uh, facilitated the compromising of voting equipment during 2021.

But make no mistake, the intent of her work was to try to prove Trump's big lie.

Uh, and Kaitlan, just to clarify, uh, Tina Peters did not let Mike Lindell into the voting equipment.

There was someone else, uh, but she did take the images of the voting equipment.

Um, do you believe her?

Mm-hmm

... not just in the election space.

We saw it play out in Minnesota.

We've seen the threats in other states.

At large, I- I think there is a lot of worry about ICE, and again, the putting on sharing the fact that I'm- I'm running for attorney general, it is really important that we hold the line against federal actors who think that they have immunity.

They do not.

They absolutely do not.

Can you please tell them that they will be and that there are people fighting to make sure of that? Because I, I really think part of Trumpism is that they want you to think that even before it's happened.

During his second term, President Trump has repeatedly pressured the Justice Department and Colorado officials to pardon or release Peters, writing in August, quote, "If she is not released, I'm going to take harsh measures." Democratic Colorado Secretary of State, Jena Griswold, spoke to PBS NewsHour about that pressure campaign.

What happens with Trump is he tries to push the line, tries to push people, uh, pretending he has authority that he does not, and if they refuse an unlawful order or an unlawful, uh, uh, executive, uh, order or request, then the retaliation starts, from him, but also the far right.

Griswold though argues the repercussions would be felt far and wide if Peters walks free.

It would set the precedent that people can attack our elections and potentially disenfranchise Americans without any type of consequences.

Uh, it would also send- set the precedent that if people break the law and are friends with Donald Trump, they won't face consequences.

That's a direct assault to the rule of law in this country, uh, and it- it just cannot stand.

Um, Secretary, I- I- I wonder how much these kinds of delusions persist out there (laughs) and what it means that someone is still committing this kind of violent, vandalistic act, at least allegedly, because of the Big Lie of 2020.

Well, thanks for having me on, Chris.

Um, I would say Colorado has some of the best elections in the nation.

We're considered the gold standard, both for our access and for our security.

But we have really seen the effects of the Big Lie up close.

You know, we had a county clerk breach her own voting equipment for Donald Trump, trying to prove his Big Lie.

She's now serving nine years of incarceration.

During another commission meeting earlier this year, he said he'd recently been introduced- introduced to the film 2000 Mules, the documentary which has been widely discredited, claims to show evidence of a vast conspiracy by Democrats to steal the 2020 election."Do you, given the fact that like Donald Trump won the last election, is in office now, is there a kind of fluctuation in the intensity with which people are tying themselves to the 2020 big lie? And do you worry about it maybe going away a little bit when Trump's in power, but if there's a contested election, coming back?