Liz Oyer, the former U.S. pardon attorney, testified before the Senate Judiciary Committee on July 16, 2026 that Todd Blanche fired her after she refused to recommend restoring firearms rights to Mel Gibson — directly contradicting Blanche's own testimony a day earlier that her recommendation did not lead to her termination.

Oyer's appearance came on the second day of Blanche's confirmation hearing to serve as Attorney General, a session that followed an Executive Business Meeting. Blanche, Donald Trump's pick for the nation's top law enforcement post, had testified on July 15 that Oyer's termination was unrelated to her handling of the Gibson matter. He told the committee that her decisions as pardon attorney were "completely inconsistent with President Trump's authority" (The Guardian).

Oyer called Blanche's account "provably false" and said his claim is contradicted by documents and evidence. She told senators she declined to "rubber-stamp a political favor for a friend of the president" and that it cost her her job. Gibson, an actor and Trump ally, was previously convicted of domestic violence — a disqualifying factor under federal law for firearm possession absent a pardon or restoration of rights.

The hearing's first day had been opened by Senator Chuck Grassley on July 15. The second day, featuring Oyer's testimony, was scheduled by the Judiciary Committee for July 16 (Senate Judiciary Committee).

Oyer did not confine her testimony to the circumstances of her dismissal. She urged senators not to "degrade our justice system further" by promoting Blanche. She said that "to the American public, it looks like Mr Blanche is running the DoJ as Donald Trump's personal law firm." She accused Blanche of using law enforcement powers to pursue petty grudges harbored by the president, calling these "pointless vendettas" that are wasting scarce resources and destroying the DOJ's credibility (The Guardian).

Oyer's dismissal has a documented trajectory. She was fired from her position as U.S. pardon attorney on March 7, 2025, the same day Bobak Talebian, who oversaw FOIA handling at the DOJ, was also terminated (Reuters). Weeks later, in April 2025, U.S. marshals were mobilized to warn Oyer over her planned congressional testimony (Reuters).

Oyer had been appointed pardon attorney in April 2022, bringing to the role a career that included a partnership at Mayer Brown and subsequent work as a federal public defender representing indigent defendants (Reuters). The pardon attorney's office advises the president on clemency decisions and evaluates applications for pardons and commutations, operating nominally as a neutral advisory body within the DOJ.

The conflicting testimony between Blanche and Oyer now places the Judiciary Committee in the position of adjudicating between two irreconcilable accounts of the same dismissal. Blanche frames Oyer's firing as a response to decisions that exceeded or conflicted with presidential authority on clemency. Oyer frames it as retaliation for declining to extend a specific favor to a politically connected individual with a disqualifying criminal history.

The broader context here is a confirmation process in which the nominee's fitness to lead the DOJ is being tested against allegations that the department under his influence has already been weaponized for personal and political ends. Oyer's characterization of Blanche running the DOJ as Trump's "personal law firm" is a charge that resonates beyond the Gibson incident. Her claim that department resources are being diverted to pursue what she described as the president's personal grievances goes to the institutional question at the center of any attorney general confirmation: whether the nominee will exercise independent judgment or serve as an instrument of presidential will.

The marshals' intervention in April 2025, reported by Reuters, adds a coercive dimension to the department's posture toward a former official preparing to speak publicly. That episode, combined with the documented firing of Talebian on the same day as Oyer, suggests a pattern of personnel actions concentrated in offices with oversight functions — the pardon process and FOIA compliance — that serve as internal checks on executive discretion.

Oyer's testimony forces senators to weigh not only Blanche's credibility against documentary evidence she says exists, but also the institutional implications of confirming an official who is accused, under oath, of retaliating against a career DOJ lawyer for declining a politically motivated request. The committee has not yet scheduled a vote on the nomination.