IN WASHINGTON – Reuters saw a letter from the lawyer of a fired career pardon attorney on Monday that said the U.S. Justice Department sent armed U.S. marshals to deliver a letter warning her not to appear in front of congressional Democrats.
“This very unusual step of sending armed police to the home of a former Department of Justice employee who has not done any wrongdoing or criminal behaviour just to deliver a letter is both unprecedented and completely inappropriate,” Michael Bromwich, a lawyer for fired pardon attorney Liz Oyer, wrote to the Justice Department.
Bromwich wrote that the Marshals weren’t called off until Friday, after Oyer admitted getting the letter and found it in a second email account she wasn’t using to talk to the department’s human resources staff.
One former official said that U.S. Marshals agents are usually sent to serve congressional subpoenas or protect witnesses, but delivering a letter from the Justice Department is not something that happens very often.
A spokeswoman for the Justice Department didn’t say anything.
Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche fired several career officials on March 7. One of them was Oyer, who was the pardon attorney during President Joe Biden’s term.
Since then, Oyer has told U.S. media that she was fired soon after she refused to suggest that star Mel Gibson, who supports President Trump, get his gun rights back.
Several Justice Department officials spoke at a hearing on Monday afternoon, set up by Democrats in the House of Representatives and the Senate, about how the Trump administration treats the Justice Department and law firms that take on cases that the Republican president doesn’t like.
“I was in the car with my husband and my parents… when I got the news that the officers were on their way to my house where my teenage child was home alone,” Oyer said.
“Fortunately, due to the grace of a very decent person who understood how upsetting this would be to my family, I was able to confirm receipt of the letter to an email address, and the deputies were called off.”
The Democrats made a big move.
The use of the Marshals to send a letter was seen as an attempt to “intimidate and silence” Oyer by Democratic U.S. Senator Adam Schiff of California and Republican U.S. Representative Jamie Raskin of Maryland. Raskin said it was “ripped straight from the gangster playbook.”
An email from Kendra Wharton, an associate deputy attorney general, to Oyer said that the department has “significant confidentiality interests.”
These were especially strong in Oyer’s case because Oyer helped the president get clemency, Wharton said. She was referring to the executive privilege doctrine, which keeps some conversations between the president and Congress secret.
“Should you choose to appear before Congress, the department expects that you will abide by your obligations under the law, Department policy, and the applicable rules of professional responsibility,” Wharton said.
“Those matters include the deliberative processes that underlie pardons, clemency, the restoration of firearm rights, and related decisions.”
In his letter to Blanche, Bromwich said that the claim that Oyer’s evidence is not allowed because of executive privilege is “baseless” and that she is entitled to certain legal protections for people who tip off the government.
Oyer said in court on Monday that the letter from the Justice Department did not stop her from telling the truth. “I will not be bullied into hiding the ongoing corruption and abuse of power at the Department of Justice,” she said.
