Officials in the Trump administration who think they will be able to avoid legal consequences for their actions should think again, according to one former Justice Department pardon attorney.
Liz Oyer, who was Trump’s pardon attorney until she was fired by Attorney General Todd Blanche in 2025, argued in a new Substack essay that administration officials who believe they will avoid accountability if they receive a presidential pardon are making a “mistake.” She noted that the “calculated risk” the officials are taking could come back to haunt them, as it did for a businessman President Donald Trumppardoned during his first term.
“As Democrats focus on accountability, those in Trump’s orbit continue to behave as though there is no tomorrow. Why? Not because they believe the elections will go their way,” Oyer wrote. “It’s because they are banking on presidential pardons to insulate them from any future consequences.”
“This is a mistake,” Oyer added.
She pointed to the case of Philip Esformes, a wealthy businessman who Trump pardoned after running a massive health care fraud scheme. The Department of Justice went after Esformes even after he received his pardon, arguing that it only applied to the 20 counts he was convicted of and not the six counts where the jury failed to reach a verdict.
Oyer argued that this technicality “could very well come back to haunt Trump officials in the future.”
“The next administration will surely insist on the same deference in interpreting the scope of pardons. And their interpretation may not favor those currently in power,” she added.
“Today’s pardon hopefuls should be forewarned that there is no binding precedent that would prohibit a future Justice Department from bringing charges based on the good faith belief that the president exceeded his pardon power or failed to exercise it unambiguously,” Oyer wrote.
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