DOJ Official Ousted After Refusing To Recommend Mel Gibson’s Gun Rights Be Restored
The Joe Rogan Experience/YouTube
The pardon attorney for the Department of Justice was dismissed one day after she refused to recommend gun rights be restored to Mel Gibson after he pleaded guilty to a domestic violence charge.
In an interview with The New York Times published on Monday, Elizabeth Oyer said she was not given a reason for her termination, but that it came on the heels of her decision regarding the actor, who pleaded guilty in 2011 to misdemeanor battery of his ex-girlfriend.
“This is dangerous. This isn’t political — this is a safety issue,” she told the Times. Oyer was one of several DOJ officials to be let go on Friday as President Donald Trump has sought to fill key government positions with loyalists.
The Times reported:
About two weeks ago, Ms. Oyer was put on a working group to restore gun rights to people convicted of crimes, she said. That effort has been championed by some on the right who maintain that not all people with criminal convictions are dangerous or deserving of such a ban. Others contend that doing so, particularly when it comes to people with domestic violence convictions, carries significant risks.
It was an unusual assignment for the office of the pardon attorney, which typically handles requests for clemency and tries to focus on people who cannot hire well-connected lawyers to plead their cases to the White House, where the president has vast power to grant pardons in federal cases. Mr. Trump has a history of making pardon decisions without substantial input from the pardon attorney, but in this case Justice Department leaders planned to make the decision about gun rights on their own.
Individuals convicted of domestic violence crimes are barred by federal law from owning firearms. Oyer said the group compiled a list of about 95 people for consideration, as in many cases the convictions were decades old and the people in question were deemed to be at low risk for recidivism. After the list was submitted to Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche – Trump’s former personal attorney – Oyer said she was asked to add Gibson’s name.
“They sent it back to me saying, ‘We would like you to add Mel Gibson to this memo,’” she stated. A letter from Gibson’s lawyer seeking the restoration of the actor’s gun rights was attached. Oyer refused, and soon received a phone call from an official in Blanche’s office.
“He then essentially explained to me that Mel Gibson has a personal relationship with President Trump and that should be sufficient basis for me to make a recommendation and that I would be wise to make the recommendation,” she said. The next day, Oyer showed up at work and received a letter informing her of her termination.
A spokesperson for the department told the Times that Oyer’s decision about Gibson played no role in her firing.
Shortly before taking office, Trump named Gibson a “Special Ambassador” to Hollywood.
In 2006, Gibson was arrested for DUI. After being pulled over, stop, he went on an anti-Semitic tirade about the “fucking Jews” and blamed them “for all the wars in the world.”
