Former Department of Justice attorney Elizabeth Oyer says she has received a wave of hateful messages and death threats following her testimony before the Senate Judiciary Committee regarding the nomination of Todd Blanche for attorney general.

Oyer, who served for 13 years as the Justice Department's pardon attorney, posted a YouTube video showing examples of threatening emails she says began arriving after the July 16 hearing.Several of the messages included explicit threats against her and her family.

Oyer argues that Missouri Republican Senators Josh Hawley and Eric Schmitt contributed to the hostile response by portraying her testimony and prior work in a misleading way.

During the hearing, rather than focusing primarily on Blanche's nomination, both senators questioned Oyer extensively about her recommendation that President Joe Biden commute dozens of federal death sentences to life imprisonment without parole.

Oyer had also testified that she was dismissed after refusing to restore firearm rights to actor Mel Gibson, whom she described as a close friend of President Donald Trump.

Schmitt's office defended the senator's criticism, stating that Oyer's clemency recommendations were extreme and disregarded the concerns of victims' families.

Hawley likewise rejected Oyer's accusations, arguing that he highlighted the stories of crime victims and relied on internal memoranda that he entered into the congressional record.He maintained that the real victims were those harmed by offenders whose sentences Oyer recommended commuting.Oyer, however, contends that Hawley falsely suggested she sympathized with violent criminals, calling that characterization dangerous misinformation.

The dispute highlights broader political tensions surrounding criminal justice policy, executive clemency, and the increasingly hostile environment surrounding high-profile congressional hearings.