Purging the pardon office: 'No MAGA left behind'

Editor's note: her own statement and reporting document the firing after she declined a request involving a friend of the president, but no court or official finding establishes it as retaliatory or unlawful.

On March 7, 2025, career Pardon Attorney Liz Oyer was fired by a memo signed by Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche, hours after she declined a request to recommend restoring the gun rights of 'a famous friend of the President' who had lost them over a domestic violence conviction; the Associated Press identified him as the actor Mel Gibson. Oyer had supervised a team of about 40 people. The office had applied the Justice Department's neutral criteria, including a five-year wait after release, acceptance of responsibility and restitution, and forwarded recommendations to the president; clemency decisions moved into the White House. Trump later installed Ed Martin as pardon attorney, and after Trump pardoned Scott Jenkins, a Virginia sheriff convicted of taking bribes, Martin posted 'No MAGA left behind.'

Oyer went public. At an April 7, 2025 hearing convened by members of the House and Senate Judiciary committees, she testified that the Justice Department leadership 'appears to value political loyalty above the fair and responsible administration of justice' and said: 'I will not be bullied into concealing the ongoing corruption and abuse of power at the Department of Justice.' She later told the Washington Post that the pardons were 'having a detrimental effect on victims and taxpayers, and it's a windfall to the people who committed crimes.' The Justice Department says it reviews all applications and makes recommendations that are 'consistent, unbiased, and uphold the rule of law.'

The captured office is the enabling mechanism for much of the Pardons & Pay-to-Play category: the finding that 96% of the term's clemency fails DOJ standards (PAY-17), the donor pardons (PAY-01, PAY-02, PAY-03, PAY-15), the Jenkins bribery pardon (PAY-06), the restitution wipeouts (PAY-19) and the pardon-lobbying market (PAY-21) all followed the capture of the office that was supposed to vet clemency on the merits.