Former pardon attorney says she was fired after resisting political requests and warned by marshals

Liz Oyer, who said she served as the U.S. Department of Justice's pardon attorney, testified that she was fired suddenly and without explanation after declining a departmental request she described as inconsistent with the office's ordinary, nonpolitical role.

"When I was fired, there were over 6,000 applications pending from ordinary Americans around the country who were seeking the president's mercy and second chances through clemency," Oyer told the joint House–Senate hearing. She said she received a three‑sentence termination memo signed by "Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanch" and that she was escorted out with no opportunity to say goodbye to colleagues.

Oyer said other post‑firing experiences convinced her to testify publicly instead of detailing only the events that led to her dismissal. She told the panel that her benefits and access to personnel records were delayed and that she learned, on April 2, that her employer‑provided health insurance would expire in five days unless she paid drastically higher premiums.

She told lawmakers that on a Friday night she was notified that the deputy attorney general's office had directed the department's security service to dispatch two armed special deputy U.S. Marshals to her home to serve a letter warning her about testifying. Oyer said the deputies were called off only after she confirmed receipt of the emailed letter; she described the episode as intended to intimidate her.

Oyer also told members that the Office of the Pardon Attorney had been sidelined in several high‑profile clemency decisions. When asked whether her office had been consulted on the president's mass grants of clemency for participants in the January 6 events, she said, "I learned about those pardons on the news just like every other American."

Lawmakers pressed Oyer about the standard the office uses when recommending restoration of firearm rights; she said the office's duty was to assess public safety and that she did not have sufficient evidence to recommend restoration of gun rights for the celebrity Mel Gibson in a specific case she described.

Committee members asked for records Oyer said she had sought through FOIA that would corroborate her account; Oyer said some office documents she obtained by FOIA did corroborate parts of her testimony but that communications she sought from the deputy attorney general's office had not been produced.

Oyer concluded by urging protection for career public servants and by framing her decision to testify as an effort to preserve the nonpolitical character of the clemency process. The committee did not take formal action on her request for records during the hearing.