Fired U.S. pardon attorney complains of intimidation tactics ahead of testimony in 'shadow hearing' [View all]

Source: NBC News

April 7, 2025, 6:00 AM EDT / Updated April 7, 2025, 3:20 PM EDT


WASHINGTON — A lawyer representing the former U.S. pardon attorney complained in a letter to the Justice Department that it was using "security resources to intimidate" Liz Oyer ahead of her planned participation in a "shadow" hearing held Monday by congressional Democrats.

The letter said the Justice Department dispatched special deputy U.S. marshals to the home of Oyer, who said she was fired after opposing the addition of actor Mel Gibson to a list of people having their gun rights restored. (A Justice Department official disputed that the Gibson case drove her dismissal.) The special deputy U.S. marshals had been told to deliver a letter warning Oyer to obey her obligation not to reveal information protected by executive privilege when she participates in the Monday event. Ultimately, they did not deliver the letter, after Oyer confirmed receipt of the message to a secondary email.

“This highly unusual step of directing armed law enforcement officers to the home of a former Department of Justice employee who has engaged in no misconduct, let alone criminal conduct, simply to deliver a letter, is both unprecedented and completely inappropriate," Michael Bromwich, a former Department of Justice inspector general representing Oyer, wrote in a response letter addressed to Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche.

Bromwich wrote that Oyer learned the special deputy marshals had been dispatched to her home on Friday, when her teen child was home alone. "You appear to be using the Department’s security resources to intimidate a former employee who is engaged in statutorily protected whistleblower conduct, an act that implicates criminal and civil statutes as well as Department policy and your ethical obligations as a member of the bar,” Bromwich wrote.

Read more: https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/justice-department/power-congress-democrats-spotlight-trumps-justice-department-shadow-he-rcna199773