Some of the top Justice Department officials who were recently terminated are expected to testify publicly at a congressional meeting Monday.
Liz Oyer, who was fired as U.S. pardon attorney last month, and Ryan Crosswell, who left the department’s public integrity section during the controversy surrounding its decision to drop the criminal corruption case against New York Mayor Eric Adams, will testify at a hearing arranged by top Democrats, CBS News has learned.
The two are expected to testify about the impact of the Trump administration’s firings and demotions, as well as the resignations of dozens of longtime department officials. Administration critics have accused President Trump’s allies of dismissing longtime investigators and prosecutors in retribution for criminal prosecutions against him or his associates. They’ve also spoken out against efforts to plant political loyalists in powerful posts.
Oyer alleges she was fired by the Trump administration after refusing an order to intervene and help restore actor Mel Gibson‘s rights to possess a gun. She is expected to speak about the circumstances of her firing during the hearing.
Crosswell resigned in February after top Justice Department official Emil Bove, a close Trump ally who represented him in criminal cases, ordered prosecutors in the public integrity section to push forward with a dismissal of the corruption case against Mayor Adams.
In a resignation letter posted in February by the Washington Post, Crosswell wrote, “I cannot fathom how anyone would do this to the public servants he is supposed to be leading. And the damage done was not limited to two offices — it appalled prosecutors throughout the Department and our alumni.”
Rachel Cohen, an attorney who worked at the Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher and and Flom law firm, is also expected to testify. She has criticized Skadden for striking an agreement with the Trump administration to offer $100 million in pro bono services to causes and clients that the president would support. Skadden is one of three major firms that has reached a deal with the administration to avoid being targeted by an executive order stripping their lawyers of security clearances or access to government facilities.
The Trump administration has secured approximately $240 million in agreements for pro bono services from three major law firms in the past month.
The hearing is being organized and led by congressional Democrats, including Rep. Jamie Raskin, a Maryland Democrat who is the ranking member of the House Judiciary Committee, and Sen. Adam Schiff, a first-term California Democrat who previously served on the House Jan. 6 Select Committee.
In a statement to CBS News, Raskin said, “While my GOP colleagues passively watch Trump punish his critics and take a jackhammer to the work of anti-corruption fighters at the Department of Justice, Democrats are lifting up the tough Americans who are standing strong against the corruption and lawlessness of Trump.”
Schiff said in a statement, “The Trump administration has been using the Justice Department to go after the president’s political enemies — firing prosecutors who uphold the law, attacking law firms that refuse to do his bidding, and seeking to dismiss cases against his political allies.”
Republicans are not listed as participants in the event. As a minority party in the Senate, Democrats do not have the power to organize and stage traditional committee hearings. Over the past several days, they have instead staged events titled “shadow hearings” or “spotlight hearings” to take testimony and ask questions of witnesses in a public setting. On Wednesday, Sen. Richard Blumenthal, the top Democrat on the Senate Veterans Affairs Committee, held a “shadow hearing” on job cuts inside the Department of Veterans Affairs.
