DOJ planned to send US marshals to ex-employee's home over Mel Gibson discussion
The Department of Justice (DOJ) was preparing to send U.S. marshals to a former employee's home ahead of an appearance she is set to make with two high-profile Democrats over restoring actor Mel Gibson's gun rights.
Correspondence between former Pardon Attorney Liz Oyer and the Justice Department indicates the department planned to dispatch U.S. marshals to deliver a letter seeking to dissuade her from talking at the event about allegations that she was fired for recommending Gibson's gun rights be restored.
The department was set to send law enforcement to her home between 9 p.m. and 10 p.m. Friday to hand deliver her a letter pressing her not to appear at a Monday forum hosted by Sen. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) and Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-Md.) about the Trump administration’s influence over the Justice Department.
Oyer was able to confirm receipt of the letter electronically, ending plans for its physical delivery, but an attorney for the former Justice Department lawyer called the ordering of armed agents a clear intimidation tactic.
“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,” attorney Michael Bromwich wrote.
“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.”
Oyer said last month that she was fired after being pressured by the Trump administration to add Gibson to a list of former offenders she could recommend to have their gun rights restored. Oyer, who declined to do so based on Gibson’s misdemeanor conviction for domestic violence, was fired shortly after she told DOJ leaders the decision to restore his rights should rest with them.
The Friday letter from the Justice Department to Oyer, reviewed by The Hill, said it “expects that [Oyer] will decline to respond to questions” about internal deliberations related to Gibson.
“Although you have not advised the Department of the substance of your potential testimony, press reports indicate that you may testify about the Department’s consideration of the restoration of firearm rights, including to certain individuals,” Associate Deputy Attorney General Kendra Wharton wrote.
“The internal deliberations related to those matters, as well as associated non-public attorney communications and work product, are likely covered by one or more components of executive privilege and would implicate the rules of professional responsibility.”
Bromwich responded that Oyer is entitled to do so under whistleblower protection laws.
Bromwich wrote that while the letter “warns Ms. Oyer about the purported risks of testifying … at no point does the letter advise Ms. Oyer of the legal protections in place for whistleblowers, which protect current and former federal employees reporting violations of laws, rules, or regulations; gross mismanagement or waste of funds; abuse of authority; or a substantial danger to public health or safety.”
“As to the alleged legal basis for the attempt to intimidate Ms. Oyer from testifying — that her testimony is barred by executive privilege — the argument is completely without merit. The President has not asserted executive privilege over any matter at issue here, nor have you identified specific information potentially subject to such privilege,” he wrote.
“Moreover, executive privilege cannot be asserted to protect misconduct — as expressly noted in the OLC opinion cited in your letter.”
The Justice Department did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Oyer is slated to appear Monday afternoon alongside several other former DOJ attorneys for a hearing entitled “Restoring Accountability: Exposing Trump’s Attacks on the Rule of Law.”
Rachel Cohen, who resigned in protest of her law firm’s failure to respond to the Trump administration’s targeting of major law firms, will also testify.