Right before he left office, President Joe Biden—or more accurately, his staffers and the hardworking autopen—issued thousands of pardons and even commuted the sentences of a bunch of death row inmates to life in prison. It was a massive scandal, a slap in the face to victims, and the legalities of those pardons were questioned given Biden's clear cognitive struggles.
Despite all that, it turns out it could have been so much worse. Biden's Pardon Attorney, Elizabeth Oyer, wanted to grant clemency to Dylann Roof, the man who killed nine black congregants at a church in South Carolina.
Wow. Murderer Dylann Roof was referred for clemency by Biden DOJ Attorney Elizabeth Oyer because he “suffered from anxiety.”
— Katie Pavlich (@KatiePavlich) July 16, 2026
What the hell is going on? pic.twitter.com/1k9yQfHH4F
Sen. Hawley questioned Oyer. "You were President Biden's Pardon Attorney, is that correct?"
"I was the Justice Department's Pardon Attorney," Oyer replied.
"You made clemency recommendations to the White House, whether or not to pardon inmates, is that correct?" Hawley asked.
"My job was to make clemency recommendations," Oyer said.
Hawley then asked, "And in that capacity, you recommended that the President of the United States, Joe Biden, grant clemency to all 40 federal death row inmates. All of them. Clear them out, correct?"
"Sir," Oyer replied, "as I told Chairman Grassley, I'm not free to discuss the recommendations."
"Well, that's what your memo says," Hawley said. "I mean, we have your memo. Your memo of November 4, 2024 says, and I quote, 'Disparity and undue severity of sentence which are present in many if not all of these cases, have been recognized as grounds for clemency.' And you went on to recommend in that memo, and a series of other memos, that are now recorded and public record, that the President of the United States grant clemency to murderers, rapists, and the most horrible offenders. All of them. Clear death row completely out. I'm amazed you've been called here today. I'm absolutely amazed by it."
Hawley continued, "Let's just talk about the people who you recommended. You talk about honoring victims? The people who you recommended get clemency and live at the expense and sufferance of taxpayers for the rest of their lives. Let's start with Dylann Roof. Dylann was a neo-Nazi who murdered nine African-American worshippers at a Bible study in Charleston, SC. Do you remember this case?"
"I do remember," Oyer said.
"I would hope you did. Here's his victims. Want to look at them? There they are. Nine of them, at a Bible study," Hawley said. "In a church. Killed in cold blood. The DOJ knew from day one that he had decided, I'm going to quote from the prosecutors, 'decided to attack African-Americans because of their race. He further decided to attack African-American worshippers in a black church in order to make his attack more notorious.' More notorious. And yet you recommended that he be granted clemency, live at the expense of taxpayers the rest of his life, substitute your judgment for that of the American judicial system. Do you stand by that recommendation today?"
"Sir, I'm not going to comment on the recommendations that I made, but I can tell you that Mr. Roof is going to die in prison," Oyer replied.
"Oh, he's going to live in prison for a very long time because of you. Because of your recommendations," Hawley shot back. "Here's what you said in your memo of October 30, 2024. You said that actually Roof is not a compelling candidate for clemency, but you recommended it anyway. Why? Because he suffered from anxiety, you said. Right? He suffered from anxiety. Did it ever occur to you that maybe the families of his victims might suffer a little bit of anxiety because he marched into their church and murdered them in cold blood, because he was an incredible racist and he wanted to get on TV?"
Roof did not have his sentence commuted. But he was only one of three death row inmates who didn't. The other two were Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, the Boston Marathon Bomber, and Robert Bowers, the Tree of Life Synagogue shooter.
Senator Eric Schmitt also hammered Oyer, because she did recommend commutations for all 40 death row inmates, including Tsarnaev and Bowers.
Biden's Pardon Attorney recommended commuting the sentences of Dylann Roof, the Tree of Life Synagogue Murderer, and the Boston Marathon Bomber.
— Senator Eric Schmitt (@SenEricSchmitt) July 16, 2026
She was too scared to admit it. I confronted her with the documents. They're available for the whole world to see. Receipts. 🧵 pic.twitter.com/EySmt5r7th
"And you talked about how you're concerned with public safety. On November 4, 2024, you authored a 73-page memorandum recommending the commutation of all 40 federal death sentences, isn't that correct?" Schmitt asked Oyer.
"Well, as I've told two of my," Oyer began
"Yeah, I know," Schmitt interrupted her, "but don't play the game with me, because it's not. They've waived executive privilege. I have the report right here. It's dated April 24, 2026. It's actually your memo is quoted in here. It's public knowledge, and the idea that you would come here, you know that, already, you would come here and disparage somebody else and not be willing to answer questions about how you commuted the sentences of murderers is ridiculous."
"I can't believe that you're here to do that," Schmitt added.
"I don't have the authority to commute," Oyer said.
"Do you deny it?" Schmitt asked. "Do you deny that you authored the memo?"
"I'm not sure which memo you're referring to," Oyer replied.
"I'm referring to the November 4, 2024, 73-page memo. Do you deny authoring it?"
Oyer stammered. "I can't say without ... "
Schmitt blasted her. "It's ridiculous. Honestly, I can't believe you did. You did and everybody in America and in the world can pull it up. So it's a ridiculous ... it quotes your letter," Schmitt said when Oyer interrupted him. "It quotes your letter. You should just admit it ... everybody knows you authored it."
It's a slap in the face to victims and their families. Tsarnaev killed three people in 2013 and wounded hundreds more, many of them seriously. One of those victims was eight-year-old Martin Richard. Richard's sister, Jane, who was seven at the time, lost her left leg below the knee. Martin's mother lost sight in one of her injured eyes. Bowers went to the Tree of Life Synagogue in Pittsburgh, where he killed 11 worshippers in 2018.
Never forget that Democrats wanted Biden to commute the death row sentences of all federal inmates, including literal terrorists, citing 'systemic racism.'
Editor’s Note: The American people overwhelmingly support President Trump’s law and order agenda.
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