The Justice Department's former pardon attorney alleges that she was recently fired from her post due to her refusal to reinstate gun ownership rights of actor, director and ally of Donald Trump, Mel Gibson.

Elizabeth Oyer was appointed to her role as pardon attorney for the DOJ, a nonpolitical role, under former President Joe Biden's administration in 2022. As a part of her job, she recommended individuals to the president for pardons and oversaw clemency grants.

Oyer had been formulating a list of 95 names of individuals convicted of crimes or misdemeanors in order to restore their gun ownership rights through the Justice Department, she told the New York Times. After sending the list to her superiors, Oyer received an edited version of the list that reduced it to just nine names, alongside instructions for her to "add Mel Gibson to this memo."

The pardon attorney also told the outlet she received a letter from Gibson's lawyers addressed to senior DOJ officials James McHenry and Emil Bove "arguing for [Gibson's] gun rights to be restored, saying that he had been tapped for a special appointment by the president and that he had made a number of big, successful movies".

In 2011, Gibson pled guilty to a misdemeanor battery charge against Oksana Grigorieva, his ex-girlfriend and mother of his child, following a fight between the couple in January of 2010. Grigorieva accused Gibson of being physically abusive towards both her and their daughter, allegedly going as far as to punch her, breaking her teeth and being verbally abusive on numerous occasions.

According to federal law, those convicted of misdemeanor state domestic violence cases are prohibited from possessing handguns.

"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," Oyer told NYT.

Oyer responded to the request by voicing her opposition to restoring Gibson's gun rights, after which an official working under Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche asked her if she was "flexible."

According to Oyer, after she stated she was not flexible, the official reportedly "shifted from friendly to condescending to bullying," and "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 was then suddenly terminated as one of the two high-profile career attorneys fired by the Trump administration on Friday.

Tags
Mel Gibson, Donald trump, Domestic violence