The Justice Department dispatched armed U.S. Marshals in what lawyers say was an attempt to intimidate a former DoJ employee,
@ryanjreilly reports:
Justice Department officials dispatched two armed Special Deputy U.S. Marshals to the home of former U.S Pardon Attorney Liz Oyer on Friday night to deliver a letter warning her about executive privilege ahead of her testimony at a “shadow hearing” that is scheduled to get underway at 3:30 p.m.
The letter viewed by NBC News from Associate Deputy Attorney General Kendra Wharton warned Oyer that DOJ “has significant confidentiality interests when it comes to congressional oversight of law enforcement matters” and the Department “expects that you will abide by your obligations under the law, Department policy, and the applicable rules of professional responsibility to refrain from disclosing information relating to confidential Department matters and sensitive personal information.”
In a response letter to Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche also seen by NBC News, Oyer’s attorney says that Blanche’s office “had directed the Department’s Security and Emergency Planning Staff to have two armed Special Deputy U.S. Marshals personally serve her with a letter at her home” on Friday and that the “Deputy Marshals were directed to serve the letter between 9:00 pm and 10:00 pm, when Ms. Oyer’s teenage child was home alone.”
Oyer ultimately confirmed receipt of the letter when the deputy marshals were en route to her home, the letter stated.
“Had your Office simply contacted Ms. Oyer by telephone or via the email address that Ms. Oyer had repeatedly used to communicate with the Department’s Justice Management Division, this deplorable incident could have been avoided entirely. Not to mention the waste of government resources involved in using Deputy US Marshals to accomplish the delivery of the letter at a time when the Administration is ostensibly committed to ferreting out waste, fraud, and abuse,” wrote Michael Bromwich, who previously served as DOJ Inspector General.
“This highly unusual step of directing armed law enforcement officers to the home of a former Department of Justice employee who has engaged in no misconduct, let alone criminal conduct, simply to deliver a letter, is both unprecedented and completely inappropriate. You appear to be using the Department’s security resources to intimidate a former employee who is engaged in statutorily protected whistleblower conduct, an act that implicates criminal and civil statutes as well as Department policy and your ethical obligations as a member of the bar,” Bromwich wrote.
“Ms. Oyer has every intention of testifying truthfully and consistent with all applicable legal and ethical obligations. She is an experienced attorney who has faithfully served the federal government for more than 13 years. Ms. Oyer will not be deterred by the intimidation tactics deployed by your Office from providing truthful, lawful testimony,” Bromwich wrote. “We will be requesting the DOJ Inspector General to investigate all aspects of this matter.”