Former Justice Department pardon attorney Elizabeth G. Oyer says she was fired one day after she refused to recommend that actor Mel Gibson have his gun rights restored, according to the New York Times.
“This is dangerous. This isn’t political — this is a safety issue,” Oyer told the New York Times.
Oyer said that about two weeks ago, she sent a memo recommending that nine candidates who had previously committed crimes have their gun rights restored after careful consideration. After sending her approval, she received the memo back with a request to “add Mel Gibson to this memo,” per the Times. The message included a letter from Gibson’s lawyer to senior Justice Department officials asking for Gibson’s gun rights to be restored.
Oyer claims that she was wary of restoring Gibson’s access to guns. He had not been subject to background checks like the other candidates. In 2011, the Oscar winner pleaded no contest in Los Angeles Superior Court to a misdemeanor charge of battering his then-girlfriend. A representative for Gibson could not immediately be reached for comment.
“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 explained.
Oyer said she sent an email to her superiors saying that she could not recommend Gibson’s gun rights be restored. She reportedly received a phone call hours later from Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche, saying it would “be wise to make the recommendation” because of the actor’s “personal relationship with President Trump,” according to the Times report.
In January, days before Donald Trump was inaugurated as president, he named Gibson, Sylvester Stallone and Jon Voight as “special ambassadors” tasked with helping restore business in Hollywood lost to overseas filming locations.
“I literally did not sleep a wink that night because I understood that the position I was in was one that was going to either require me to compromise my strongly held views and ethics or would likely result in me losing my ability to participate in these conversations going forward,” Oyer said.
Oyer said she sent another memo Friday morning, stating that she still couldn’t give her recommendation. A few hours later, she was called out of a meeting back to her office, where two security officers were waiting with a letter notifying her she had been fired.
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