A Biden-era pardon attorney lashed out at the Trump DOJ after she was fired from her position last week.
President Trump’s newly confirmed Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche fired Elizabeth Oyer last Friday.
Elizabeth Oyer told The New York Times she was fired for refusing to restore actor Mel Gibson’s gun rights.
“Gibson’s access to guns is prohibited due to a 2011 “no contest” plea he entered to a misdemeanor charge of battering his former girlfriend,” ABC News reported.
“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,” Elizabeth Oyer told The New York Times.
However, a Justice Department official told ABC News that it was not true.
ABC News reported:
A top official leading the Justice Department’s Office of the Pardon Attorney said she was fired from her post one day after refusing to recommend that actor Mel Gibson’s access to firearms be restored, according to a new interview and a statement provided to ABC News on Tuesday.
In an interview with the New York Times, pardon attorney Elizabeth Oyer said the request to add Gibson’s name to a memo of people who should have their gun rights restored came at the last minute, after attorneys for Gibson had written directly to senior DOJ officials citing a recent special appointment he had received from President Donald Trump.
After she refused, Oyer said she received a call from a senior official in Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche’s office who repeatedly pressed her to reconsider, citing Gibson’s close personal relationship with Trump.
A DOJ official, speaking on the condition of anonymity, disputed Oyer’s account, telling ABC News the spat over Gibson’s gun rights was not a factor in removal.