Fired for refusing to restore gun rights to a convicted abuser, Liz Oyer is now speaking out against what she calls a dangerous pattern of political favoritism and intimidation inside the Department of Justice.
Continuing the trend of federal employee intimidation, Department of Justice pardon attorney Liz Oyer was fired in March following her refusal to recommend the reinstatement of actor Mel Gibson’s gun rights. Gibson, a friend of President Donald Trump, had his access to firearms rescinded in 2011 following a conviction on domestic violence charges. On Friday, April 4, the Deputy Attorney General’s office ordered armed U.S. marshals to Oyer’s home to deliver a letter warning her against testifying to congressional Democrats regarding her abrupt firing.
Although common for some government departments, the Justice Department rarely employs armed marshals, especially in cases like Oyer’s where she was never involved in any criminal actions or even misconduct. The marshals were later called off after it was confirmed Oyer received the letter via email, however, sending armed officials to “warn” Oyer prior to her testimony proved to be a clear intimidation tactic.
In her congressional testimony on Monday, Oyer said, “I felt that it was my obligation to share my concerns about the reckless and unethical use of department resources to accomplish political objectives, including favors for loyalists and friends.”
She also shared that she had received “outstanding [performance] ratings every year,” prior to her abrupt firing.
On LinkedIn, Oyer wrote that her request for her personnel file was denied by the DOJ as her case was deemed “complex” and that the Department withheld essential health insurance information about her and her family following her firing.
I am here because I will not be bullied into concealing the ongoing corruption and abuse of power at the Department of Justice.
Liz Oyer
Oyer’s firing coincides with the rapid dismissal of over 100,000 federal workers by Elon Musk’s new so-called Department of Government Efficiency, including over a dozen Justice Department staff involved in prosecuting Trump.
But perhaps more concerning are the witness intimidation tactics utilized by the Justice Department. Free speech is an essential pillar of American democracy. If a federal employee cannot speak freely without being threatened by armed agents, “it’s not hyperbole to characterize this as a deliberate campaign to traumatize the department’s workforce and prevent them from doing their jobs,” said Stacey Young, another litigator who recently left the Justice Department, in a statement standing against the Trump administration’s intimidation tactics.
Oyer’s case comes among other recent instances of Justice Department corruption, including the misguided deportation of a U.S. citizen to El Salvador in March, followed by refusal to return him to his home of Maryland.
The Department of Justice is supposed to be nonpartisan and unbiased, but Oyer was fired for standing up against blatant corruption. As Oyer said, “It should alarm all Americans that the leadership of the Department of Justice appears to value political loyalty above the fair and responsible administration of justice.”
On why she refused to reinstate Gibson’s access to firearms, Oyer said,“Giving guns back to domestic abusers is a serious matter that, in my view, is not something that I could recommend lightly, because there are real consequences that flow from people who have a history of domestic violence being in possession of firearms.”
Since Oyer’s firing, Gibson’s gun rights have been restored by Attorney General Pam Bondi.
