On March 7, the Trump administration fired two career officials at the Department of Justice.
These officials include Liz Oyer, the Pardon Attorney, and Bobak Talebian, the head of Information Policy.
This is one of numerous instances of the Trump administration defying executive precedence, as Justice Department officials are typically retained across administrations.
The firings were conducted in a typically shambolic manner for the Trump White House. The Office of Information Policy does not have a new head. Talebian’s profile page was merely updated to include the year of his firing, 2025. The Office of the Pardon Attorney website bizarrely includes the names of the Senior Deputy Pardon Attorney and the Deputy Pardon Attorney, but makes no mention of who will succeed the most important role, the Pardon Attorney.
Trump has sought to upend the very nature of presidential pardons. Not only has he utilized them in a politicized fashion, as seen in his pardoning of political allies, including corrupt former Congressman Duncan Hunter, but he has called for an extension of presidential pardon powers. This extension comes in the form of being able to void the pardons of past administrations. On Truth Social, Trump announced that former President Biden’s pardons of the Select Committee, “are hereby declared VOID, VACANT, AND OF NO FURTHER FORCE OR EFFECT, because of the fact that they were done by Autopen.” Regardless of the pen that Joe Biden used, the President does not have the power to revoke past pardons.
The firing of officials that handle Freedom of Information Act requests in the Office of Personnel Management on February 21 coincides with Talebian’s firing.
