President Donald Trump’s Department of Justice (DOJ) terminated a top pardon attorney who claims it was over a gun rights dispute, but she oversaw President Joe Biden’s commutations of violent criminals and pushed for left-wing criminal justice initiatives.
Elizabeth G. Oyer claims she was fired after she opposed restoring the gun rights of prominent Trump supporter and actor Mel Gibson, she originally told The New York Times. Oyer proceeded to blast the Trump administration in a Rolling Stone opinion piece, asserting she was fired for her decision and accused Trump’s DOJ of “bullying.”
Gibson was convicted of a misdemeanor charge of battering his former girlfriend in 2011, the Times reported. He pleaded no contest.
Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche sent Oyer a memo informing her of the termination, Oyer said. She claimed she was not informed about why she was fired, but said the notice was delivered shortly after she pushed back against restoring Gibson’s gun rights.
According to a memo posted to her LinkedIn, her firing was “effective immediately.”
REPORT: Just Sworn In Deputy U.S. Attorney General, Todd Blanche, Has Fired @TheJusticeDept Biden Appointed Pardon Attorney Liz Oyer. pic.twitter.com/7qlsUW0W2g
— John Basham (@JohnBasham) March 8, 2025
However, there appears to be more to the story: Oyer has long advocated for left-wing criminal justice initiatives, and her office presided over some of Biden’s worst pardons and commutations.
Oyer spearheaded the pardon office, which reviews applications for clemency and provides recommendations concerning their acceptance or denial, under Biden. She was the first public defender to be appointed to the position. (RELATED: Biden Lets Cop Killer, Dangerous Criminals Walk Free In Last-Minute Clemency Action)
While only the President has the power to grant clemency, the DOJ notes that the pardon attorney helps prepare necessary documents and provides advice.
Oyer told the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers (NACDL) in 2022 that her pardon office took into account “systemic racial disparities.”
“Our recommendations are based on a wide variety of factors,” Oyer said. “Systemic racial disparities are absolutely a factor that we take into consideration in making our recommendations on clemency.”
While she said the DOJ does not “look at the race of individual clemency petitioners,” she added that “systemic racial disparities … are baked into certain sentencing laws and practices.”
Oyer penned an op-ed in 2021 outlining how Biden could tackle “systemic racism.” Oyer advocated for Biden to trust public defenders over prosecutors on the issue of criminal justice reform — a wish Biden eventually granted when he appointed her as pardon attorney the following year.
“We cannot prosecute our way out of the crisis of mass incarceration,” Oyer wrote.
Biden commuted the sentences of thousands of convicted criminals, including murderers and drug traffickers.
In his final days as president, he commuted the sentences of 2,500 people, including Native American activist Leonard Peltier.
Peltier was convicted in 1977 for murdering two FBI special agents at the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in South Dakota. The FBI Agents Association (FBIAA) slammed Biden’s decision in January. (RELATED: ‘Betrayal’: Wife Of Witness Against Trump Says She’s Extremely Upset Her Family Didn’t Get Pardon From Biden)
“The [FBIAA] is outraged by then-President Biden’s decision to commute the sentence of Leonard Peltier, a convicted cop killer responsible for the brutal murders of FBI Special Agents Jack Coler and Ronald Williams,” the statement read.
FBI Agents Association Statement on Commutation of Leonard Peltier:
“The FBI Agents Association (FBIAA) is outraged by then-President Biden’s decision to commute the sentence of Leonard Peltier, a convicted cop killer responsible for the brutal murders of FBI Special Agents…
— FBI Agents Association (@FBIAgentsAssoc) January 20, 2025
Biden also issued a sweeping clemency grant in December and commuted the sentences of almost 1,500 people, from drug traffickers to fraudsters.
Francesk Shkami was originally sentenced to 27 years in prison in 2014 for directing a criminal organization to “smuggle cocaine and marijuana into the United States from Albania,” court records said.
Another clemency recipient was Jose Valdez, a man involved in a Texas-based drug-trafficking organization, according to court records. Biden also commuted the sentence of Daniel Monsanto Lopez, who organized and led a “narcotics smuggling and distribution conspiracy,” court records show.
Biden also granted clemency to infamous fraudsters, including former Sentinel Management Group, Inc. DEO Eric Bloom and former Dixon, Illinois Comptroller Rita Crundwell.
Crundwell was sentenced for stealing $53.7 million from Dixon over ten years, and Bloom was sentenced for defrauding “hundreds” of people of more than $665 million.
President Biden believes no one should be jailed just for using or possessing marijuana. To help remedy our nation’s failed approach to marijuana, President Biden pardoned federal and D.C. simple marijuana possession offenses. President Biden also called on governors to issue… pic.twitter.com/dlSewoCipy
— The White House 46 Archived (@WhiteHouse46) January 13, 2025
Just before Christmas in 2024, Biden announced he was commuting the sentences of nearly 40 death row inmates.
He commuted the sentences of 37 individuals on death row convicted of brutal murders. Biden reclassified their sentences to life in prison without parole.
One of those inmates was Richard Allen Jackson. He previously confessed to the kidnapping, rape and murder of Karen Styles, a recent college graduate.
Ricardo Sanchez Jr. and Daniel Troya were also included in Biden’s announcement. They were found guilty of murdering a family on the highway, including two toddlers, NBC News reported.
In a prisoner swap with Beijing, he granted clemency to three Chinese citizens — one of whom was a man sentenced to prison for possession of child pornography, Reuters reported. (RELATED: Biden Granted Clemency To Multiple Public Officials, Democrat Politicians Convicted Of Corruption)
Biden also pardoned various family members, including his brother James Biden, who was linked to Hunter Biden’s overseas business dealings. Biden pardoned his son Hunter in December 2024 for possible crimes dating back to 2014. Hunter was convicted on federal tax and gun charges in 2024.
He also preemptively pardoned Dr. Anthony Fauci, Gen. Mark Milley, and Jan. 6 committee members just as he was leaving office. Milley was involved in coordinating the botched Afghanistan withdrawal in 2021.
It is unclear who the next pardon attorney will be at the time of publication. Alice Marie Johnson — who was pardoned by Trump in 2020 — was tapped to be his “pardon czar” in February, according to a post she made on X.
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