See email called "smoking gun" in Colorado's lawsuit alleging White House retaliation, White House denies tie to Tina Peters
New exhibits in the federal court case Colorado vs. Trump, which alleges the Trump administration orchestrated an "unconstitutional scheme to attack and punish the state," reveal communications between the White House and federal agencies on the topic of Colorado last December, at the same time the President called Governor Jared Polis "weak and pathetic" for not releasing former Mesa County Clerk Tina Peters.
An email, which lawyers for Colorado have described as a "smoking gun," sent on Dec. 15, 2025, by White House staffer Emily Underwood, calls for leaders from the federal departments of Energy, Education, Transportation, Housing and Urban Development and Interior to attend a next-day "Brainstorm Call." The email states, "Please come prepared to discuss immediate actions that your department or agency can take with respect to Colorado. Please do not forward this invitation or include others on the call without discussing with me first."
Other exhibits in the lawsuit include an all-caps email describing "MANDATORY PER WHITE HOUSE REQUEST" that agency leaders attend a meeting, stating "Per Jeff Novak's request, there's an URGENT need for a 30-min. meeting TODAY, 12/16/25, re: Portfolio Review Process."
Another email that is heavily redacted has Underwood saying "Thank you!!" to an employee at the US Department of Agriculture. And a spreadsheet lists dozens of communications with USDA, DOE, DOT, FEMA, and NSF from late December through spring listed as "Presidential Communication; Deliberative Process Privilege," as the reason the communications are not being made public.
On Friday, the White House denied that the December brainstorm and subsequent communications were tied to the Tina Peters case. A spokesperson wrote in a statement to CBS Colorado, "This was purely related to multiple policy issues with the state of Colorado. It is not uncommon for the federal government to pursue avenues to persuade states to bring their policies in line with administration priorities."
Lawyers with the Colorado Attorney General's office argued in court that the December meeting preceded hundreds of millions of dollars in transportation and energy funding cuts, efforts to dismantle the National Center for Atmospheric Research and a denial of disaster relief assistance.
Many of the redacted communications list White House Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller, who Underwood worked with. This week, Underwood announced on LinkedIn that she was leaving the White House to join a venture capital firm.
In a statement, Miller said to CBS Colorado, "Emily Underwood, beginning in the transition, has played an integral role in the extraordinary and unprecedented policy successes of the Trump Administration, spearheading vast interagency coordination, ensuring seamless execution of the most intricate agency actions, driving detailed implementation on hundreds of executive orders and directives – including her pivotal role in the Trump nuclear energy renaissance. The Trump Administration accomplishes more in weeks than others do in generations, and Emily has been key to this monumental success."
CBS Colorado reached out to Underwood and had not received a response at the time of publishing.
