[guest post by Dana]

Paying the price for professional dissent:

The former U.S. pardon attorney, Elizabeth G. Oyer, was terminated Friday after she opposed restoring actor Mel Gibson’s rights to carry a gun, her spokesperson and two Justice Department officials familiar with the matter told NBC News.

A spokesperson for Oyer said that she was not told why she was terminated but that because of the sequence of events she believes her refusal to carry out a request from officials in the deputy attorney general’s office to add Gibson’s name to a list of people to have their gun rights restored may have played a role. . .

In a statement to NBC News, Oyer described a climate of fear within the Justice Department.

“Unfortunately, experienced professionals throughout the Department are afraid to voice their opinions because dissent is being punished,” she said. “Decisions are being made based on relationships and loyalty, not based on facts or expertise or sound analysis, which is very alarming given that what is at stake is our public safety.”

It was just several hours after refusing to add Gibson’s name to the list that Oyer was terminated. She explained how the issue of restoring one’s right to own a gun after involvement in a domestic violence is a matter that is taken very seriously by pardon attorneys:

"…When I came into work on Friday morning, I said to a colleague, I really think that Mel Gibson might be my downfall."

Former U.S. Pardon Attorney Liz Oyer speaks to @kaitlancollins after being fired last week. pic.twitter.com/8O8kPhL3I4

— TheSourceCNN (@TheSourceCNN) March 12, 2025

As a reminder, back on January, Trump named Mel Gibson as one of three “special ambassadors” to Hollywood:

“It is my honor to announce Jon Voight, Mel Gibson, and Sylvester Stallone, to be Special Ambassadors to a great but very troubled place, Hollywood, California,” Trump wrote on Truth Social Thursday. “They will serve as Special Envoys to me for the purpose of bringing Hollywood, which has lost much business over the last four years to Foreign Countries, BACK—BIGGER, BETTER, AND STRONGER THAN EVER BEFORE! These three very talented people will be my eyes and ears, and I will get done what they suggest. It will again be, like The United States of America itself, The Golden Age of Hollywood!”

It’s not hard to connect the dots here.

—Dana