She was FIRED, but she's not being silent
An interview with former US Pardon Attorney Liz Oyer
On Monday, I had the absolute pleasure of interviewing Liz Oyer. She’s done a lot of interviews about her thoughts on various current events, but this was her first interview about herself and the department at large!
Scroll to the bottom to watch the full interview, but here’s my summary, cause those seem to be a fan favorite!
Of course, she told her story, and it is terrifying and heartbreaking, but I wanted to know more about the DOJ, how it could’ve been improved in the past, and how it can be reputable again in the future.
She said that there are definitely some things that should change, like the fact that most people come from within the DOJ, unlike he,r who came from being a public defender. And that gives her a different perspective.
She said the thing that’s probably gonna be the hardest is making people trust the DOJ again, but she wants to be there to help repair it if she can because she’s a public servant at heart.
She said that a lot of her colleagues left after she was fired because the whole point of being part of the pardon office is that you care about people having a second chance, you care about people getting clemency who deserve it, and no one who is currently being pardoned deserves it.
She would love to run for office, but since she lives in DC, that’s a little harder than if she lived elsewhere. DC doesn’t have much elected representation, but she hopes that changes within her lifetime.
She talked about how, in the meantime, she’s focusing on social media, and she’s so impressed with the fact that people care. Her cousin brought a group of us together to convince her a few months ago to start using social media, and everything we told her was true. It’s not just a place where people dance. People wanna know what’s happening in the justice department, and they wanna know the nitty-gritty, and she wasn’t expecting that.
I did ask about Maxwell. And how that process would go normally, and who would normally be in charge of it. The deputy AG would be nowhere near a process like this. That is pretty much unheard of.
Seeing how many people are paying attention and refusing to turn away gives her a lot of hope right now, because the only way we can change this is if we are watching and calling out what we see.
This interview gave me a lot of hope and a lot of insight into an incredible former government official, and what the Department of Justice can truly stand for and embody.
I hope you enjoy getting to know Liz Oyer!
If you watched the interview, comment with 👩🏻💼! (which actually looks a lot like Liz!)
Liz is awesome -- I LOVE her Instagram posts & share them regularly. She is so clear, so knowledgeable -- she is my hero. Thank you Liz & thank you Ariella -- for sharing more about her. Liz -- so MANY, MANY thanks -- we need you -- you are courageous & the best of the USA we hope to be again.
This is wild! Thank you for interviewing her and sharing this with us. 😳