Dems Hold 'Shadow' Hearing To Explore Trump DOJ Actions

Former Justice Department officials addressed Congressional Democrats Monday about the Department of Justice’s alleged closed-door dealings in a "shadow" hearing — one of the few ways of conducting oversight of the Trump administration afforded to the minority party in a Republican governing trifecta, Politico reports.

Democrats on the House and Senate Judiciary Committees pressed former DOJ pardon attorney Liz Oyer, who was fired, and former federal prosecutor Ryan Crosswell, who resigned after the agency’s decision to drop its corruption charges against New York City Mayor Eric Adams, about the circumstances of their departures. Sen. Adam Schiff (D-CA), who led the hearing with House Judiciary ranking member Jamie Raskin (D-MD), said Democrats had pleaded with Republicans to hold oversight hearings around the Trump administration’s actions, but their colleagues had “abdicated that important responsibility.”

Monday's bicameral event was unusual in bringing together 14 lawmakers from across the Capitol for a hearing led by one of the Senate’s most junior Democrats. Oyer testified that she had been fired after refusing to cooperate with the administration’s efforts to restore the gun rights of actor Mel Gibson, a supporter of President Trump. She said the Justice Department moved to silence her, sending a letter urging her not to share confidential department information. DOJ intended to send U.S. marshals to her home Friday night while her teenage son was there alone, but once Oyer confirmed receipt of the letter via email, the in-person delivery was called off. Crosswell recalled how attorneys in his DOJ division were asked to sign a motion to help drop the charges against Adams, after a number of other officials had resigned in refusing to cooperate. The alumnus of the DOJ’s public integrity section chose to resign his post too. Other witnesses included Rachel Cohen, a former Big Law associate who called on her firm not to cooperate with the administration, and Stacey Young, founder of a support network for DOJ alumni.