Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Mo., grilled former Biden pardon attorney Elizabeth Oyer on Thursday over her recommendation that then-President Joe Biden consider sparing Charleston church killer Dylann Roof from the death penalty, flipping Democrats’ star witness into the target of Republican criticism.During the second day of Blanche’s Senate confirmation hearing, Hawley, along with several other Republican members, repeatedly pressed Oyer about a November 2024 memorandum recommending clemency for the remaining federal death row inmates, including Roof, who murdered nine Black parishioners during a Bible study at Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Charleston, South Carolina, in 2015.”You said that actually Roof is not a compelling candidate for clemency, but you recommended it anyway,” Hawley told Oyer, citing her memo. “Why? Because he suffered from anxiety.””Did it ever occur to you that maybe the family 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?” Hawley continued.TRUMP’S AG NOMINEE RACKS UP MASSIVE SUPPORT AHEAD OF CONFIRMATION HEARING: ‘REAL RESULTS’Oyer recommended that Biden commute the sentences of all 40 federal death row inmates. The president ultimately rejected that recommendation for Roof, leaving him among three inmates whose death sentences remained intact after Biden commuted the other 37 in December 2024. In addition to Roof, the other death row inmates declined clemency were Boston Marathon bomber Dzhokhar Tsarnaev and Tree of Life synagogue shooter Robert Bowers.The exchange marked the sharpest clash of Thursday’s hearing, as Republicans sought to undermine Oyer’s credibility after Democrats called her as their chief witness against Blanche. Oyer served as U.S. pardon attorney from April 2022 until March 2025, when then-Deputy Attorney General Blanche fired her. She has argued the firing was politically motivated because she advised against Mel Gibson, President Donald Trump’s special envoy to Hollywood, while the Justice Department has denied.In her opening testimony Thursday, Oyer accused the Trump Justice Department of prioritizing “protecting powerful men” over victims, citing Blanche’s handling of the Jeffrey Epstein files and Ghislaine Maxwell’s transfer to a lower-security prison as reasons he should not be confirmed as attorney general.Oyer mentioned Blanche’s handling of the Epstein files and Ghislaine Maxwell’s reassignment to a lower security prison as among the main reasons Blanche should not become attorney general.”At the end of the day, the priority of this DOJ is protecting powerful men, even when it comes at the expense of vulnerable women,” Oyer testified Thursday.But Sens. Hawley, Eric Schmitt, R-Mo. and Senate Judiciary Chair Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, hammered Oyer over her own “credibility” after recommending serial killers and mass shooters be taken off death row.Schmitt cited a report from the Justice Department finding that Oyer’s 73-page memorandum only dedicated three paragraphs to address the grievances of the victims’ families.”You have no credibility to talk about Todd Blanche. You have none,” Schmitt said. “You’ve come here, you deny basic facts. You recommended the commutation of murderers. You gave no quarter at all or any time to the victims of these brutal murders. So, again, I can’t believe you’ve been called here by the other side. But I’m glad we’ve had an opportunity to expose your hypocrisy.”JUSTICE DEPARTMENT ANNOUNCES IT’S READOPTING THE FIRING SQUAD AS A MEANS OF EXECUTIONHawley also questioned Oyer about Robert Bowers, who was convicted in the 2018 Tree of Life synagogue massacre in Pittsburgh that killed 11 Jewish worshipers. “This guy killed people just because they’re Jews,” Hawley said. “A jury recommended that he be sentenced to death, and you substituted your judgment for theirs, and now he’s going to live. Are you proud of that?””Sir, what I am proud of is the fact that I took my job as pardon attorney extremely seriously,” Oyer replied.”I think your judgment is astoundingly terrible,” Hawley shot back. “I’m amazed that this side of the aisle has called you.” Grassley questioned Oyer about recommending clemency for Jorge Avila-Torrez, who was sentenced to death for multiple murders, including the stabbing deaths of two young girls in Illinois, the killing of Navy Petty Officer Amanda Snell and the rape and murder of a University of Maryland graduate student.Grassley repeatedly asked whether Oyer contacted victims’ families before making her recommendations, but she declined to answer, citing executive privilege surrounding presidential clemency deliberations.SENATOR TIM SHEEHY: SOFT-ON-CRIME JUDGES NEED CONSEQUENCES. THE JAIL ACT DELIVERS”You can’t even tell me if you contacted the victim’s family?” Grassley asked. “You can’t say yes or no to that?”Oyer defended her work, emphasizing that every inmate whose sentence was commuted will remain imprisoned for life.”These are absolutely horrific cases,” she said. “Every one of the individuals you mentioned will remain incarcerated for the rest of their lives, most likely in a maximum-security prison facility.”Sen. Cory Booker, D-N.J., condemned his Republican colleagues’ line of questioning with Oyer later in the hearing.”I just want to start off by saying, Miss Oyer, I hold you in the highest esteem and respect, especially what you’re doing now as a private citizen,” Booker said. “You use a platform to educate people about the law. “It is technical, but yet accessible. And the badgering you just endured, it should be completely unacceptable. You were asked to comment on things you didn’t have before you. The treatment here, to me, is just outrageous. And I apologize on behalf of the United States Senate.”Fox News Digital reached out to Biden’s office and Oyer for comment.