mel gibson's attorney laid out that mr. ad a previous conviction for domestic violence in 2011, and that he had attempted to purchase a firearm in 2023, and that he was denied because of his criminal background, and the attorney stated that mr. gibson is a high profile actor who has made lots of famous movies, and that he has a relationship with the president and asked that he be granted that relief. >> todd blanche, who is the number two, i guess now a department of justice has this to say about your account here, saying that former employees who violate their ethical duties by making false accusations on press tours will not be tolerated. i don't know what that means. this former employees version of events is false. her decisions to voice this erroneous accusation about her dismissal is in direct violation of her ethical duties as an attorney is a shameful distraction from our critical mission to prosecute violent crime and enforce our nation's immigration laws and make america safe again. what do you say to that? >> well

i think during your hour we have breaking mel gibson news, donald trump, mel gibson news, the new yorkice department official who was in charge of pardons was fired after opposing restoring mel gibson's gun rights. the lead of the article by devlin barrett, says the justice department's pardon attorney was dismissed a day after she refused to recommend that the actor mel gibson, a prominent supporter of president trump's, should have his gun rights restored, according to the attorney and others familiar with the situation. mr. gibson had lost his gun rights as a result of a 2011 domestic violence misdemeanor conviction. so that's that's the latest twist in the trump justice department. >> so domestic, if you lost your right to have guns because of your domestic violence conviction, donald trump will fire his way through the justice department to find somebody to give you back your guns, despite your domestic violence conviction. if you are a donald trump supporter or if you are mel gibson, a donald trump supporter. i mean, do they all get it? >> well, starting with mel gibson, that's f

mel. >> gibson news. donald trump, mel gibson news, the new york times reporting that the. >> a justice. >> department official who was in. >> charge of pardons. >> was fired after. opposing restoring. >> mel gibson's. >> gun rights. >> the lead of the article by. devlin barrett, says the justice department's pardon attorney. >> was dismissed. >> a day after. >> she refused. >> to recommend that the actor. >> mel gibson. >> a. >> prominent supporter of president. >> trump's, should have his gun. >> rights restored. >> according to the attorney and. >> others familiar. >> with the situation. >> mr. gibson had lost his gun rights as a result of a 2011 domestic. violence misdemeanor conviction. >> so that's. >> that's the latest twist in the trump justice department. >> so domestic, if you lost the right to have guns because of your domestic violence conviction, donald trump will fire his way through the justice department to find somebody to give you back your guns, despite your domestic violence conviction

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and mel gibson was not in that mix. >> so how did mel gibson get brought into this? >> so i was asked to write a memo to the attorney general recommending that these nine individuals get this relief that she was interested in granting to some deserving americans. and when the memo came back to me, the comment was, please add mel gibson to this recommendation. >> who asked you to add mel gibson. >> an official in the office of the deputy attorney general who is running this project on a day to day, instructed me that mel gibson should be added to the memo. >> do you know the name of that person? could you share it with us? >> it's one of the associate deputy attorney generals. there are several in the in the office, and i don't want to call anyone out by, by by name, but there are, you know, his email traffic between me and a number of individuals in the deputy attorney general's office about this issue. and the request was made, and i responded that i was unable to fulfill the request because i did not have enough information about mr. gibson to be able to recommend

we want you to add mel gibson to it. all. sheila hoyer was not was was hoyer was not that familiar with his case. and she just it didn't feel right to her, particularly on the question of domestic violence, which a lot of law and law enforcement officials will tell you is a big red flag when it comes to giving people guns back. >> well, not even just domestic violence people, but this version of the united states supreme court agrees. in june of 2024, the supreme court ruled 8 to 1 to uphold a federal law that prohibits people subjected to domestic violence restraining orders from having firearms. clarence thomas was the only dissent. so it's a mainstream, including maga legal position. >> well, and that's part of the reason why it was confusing within the justice department, why there was such an effort to do this, because the supreme court had just ruled on this very topic and seemingly was very comfortable with the law as it currently stands. but what miss hoyer described to us is that there is an effort underway insi

and later, mel gibson. yep. that one. and the sudden gun rights request that reportedly got a pardon. attorney fired. >> welcome to the new way to network. they switched to juniper's a.i. native network. and now everyone's so productive they're operating at a higher gear. that's the new way to network at work with real a.i., putting you in the fast lane. >> don't you want some more? cause i can feel your love. i can feel your love. oh. >> sometimes my moderate to severe plaque psoriasis gets in my way. but thanks to skyrizi, i'm free to bare my skin. >> clearer. i feel free to bare my skin. yeah, that's on me. nothing is everything. >> with skyrizi i saw dramatically clearer skin. and many people were 100% plaque free. skyrizi is just four doses a year after two starter doses. >> don't use if allergic. serious allergic reactions, increased infections, or lower ability to fight them may occur before treatment. get checked for infections and tb. tell your doctor about any flu like symptoms or vaccines. >> and we go hand in

. >>> should mel gibson have access to a lethal weapon? why a justice department says she was fired after pushing back against a recommendation to restore the actor's gun rights. >>> positive news on the pope's recovery. the vatican's update overnight on the pontiff's battle with pneumonia. >>> and forget about a pot of gold. how one lucky customer can win a year's worth of krispy kremes this st. patck's day. it is tuesday, march 11, and "early today" starts right now. >>> good morning. it is good to be with you. i'm jessica layton. this tuesday morning, president trump's trade war is causing more turmoil. china is hitting america's heartland now with tariffs, in effect on many of our agricultural exports. and canada is now charging 25% more for electricity, which could raise energy bills in minnesota, michigan and new york. but the white house not backing down. in fact more tariffs are planned to go into effect tomorrow for steel and aluminum imports. fears over a possible recession causing stocks to fall big time. the dow closing more th

ann mercogliano has more. >> mel gibson wants his gun back, but after a top attorney for the u.s. close ties to president trump. he was named special ambassador to hollywood and over the weekend, sat next to fbi director kash patel at a ufc fight night in vegas. >> mel gibson and mr. kash patel. >> mel gibson has tried to buy a gun in recent years but according to "the new york times," he's been denied. why? because federal law prohibits those convicted of a crime, including prior domestic violence, from owning a handgun. the application for a license to carry a concealed weapon asks, have you ever been convicted of any criminal offense in the u.s.? gibson would have to check yes. in 2011, he was convicted of misdemeanor domestic violence after striking his ex-girlfriend, russian born, audio of a violent confrontation between them leaked. >> a [bleep] to the side of the head. >> at one point, she was holding their infant daughter. >> you are hitting a woman with a child in her hands. what kind of men is that? hitting a woman when she's holding a child in their hands? breaking her t

to the nine names, suddenly she got real a curveball question, which was, we'd like you to add mel gibsonofficials who spoke to her, the actor had been seeking to get his gun rights back. he had tried to buy a gun a couple of years ago and was denied, and the senior justice department officials basically wanted the pardon, attorney's blessing and recommendation to give these gun rights back. and it really, it seemed to be to her both very serious and a little bit absurd. >> yeah. how does a pardon attorney i mean help people who don't understand exactly what they do understand how this fits into this overall story and why it's important. >> right. so this is not something. part of what was strange about this sequence of events is this is not an issue that the pardon attorney would normally be handling. what the what her superiors seemed to want was the blessing of the pardon attorney's office to start giving gun rights back to some people who had convictions. and, you know, as she described it to me, there were, you know, potential dangers of that. but she but she wasn't intrinsically opp

gun rights to certain people who've lost them over the years, and one of those people is actor mel gibsonthat, mr. trump's d.o.j. wants gibson put on a list of folks who would get their gun rights back. but when the doj lawyer in charge of that list refused to add him, she says she was fired. joining us now, nbc news senior investigative producer sarah fitzpatrick. so, sarah, explain the allegation that she's making. >> absolutely. >> so she. >> is a former. >> public defender. >> and she. >> was brought. >> into doj to. >> overhaul the office. >> of the. >> pardon of. >> attorney, which. >> normally would. >> not have anything. >> to do with gun rights. >> but she says that. >> in january. >> she was asked to be part of a massive sweeping overhaul to essentially give potentially. >> millions of. >> people. >> entire classes of convicted criminals access to guns in a potentially semi-automated process. that made her and others at the justice department extremely concerned. she says that late last week, she was called by an official within the office of the deputy attorney general, who in

that she was fired because she refused to recommend that actor and director and trump supporter mel gibson should have his gun rights restored. to remind people gibson is not just a notorious anti-semite. he was sentenced to probation for domestic violence in 2011. he was found guilty of domestic violence. sochi to you first because you've worked at the justice department. what do you make of that? >> so i know. >> the pardon attorney well, and i don't think that she would have resigned unless this something like this would have happened. i think that's what's occurring right now at the justice department is that they're making all sorts of changes. and it is on behalf of the president. you see a lot of the changes that are occurring are because stephen miller is asking for them. and this is exactly one example. this is someone who's the president's friend. all of a sudden they want some. they want to see, you know, him to he they wanted to restore his gun rights. and the pardon attorney is a career official. she's not going to she does not work on behalf of the president. and the white ho

i will i will tell you right now i have no interest in mel gibson at all. the celebrity part of this actually is repellent to me, not attractive. and yet that was super important, unbelievably compelling. and i don't know what i'm going to do to circulate that interview, but i'm going to figure out some way that i can circulate that interview, because that was incredible. >> i'm so glad you feel that way. i thought the point that she made, which really at the core of this, is that like she spent a bunch of time to find ordinary people who were deserving of this grant and wrote it up and send it, and they were like, add mel gibson, which is just sort of the whole thing. >> and do it because he's the president's friend and like, don't do justice here. you do things for donald trump here and for her to say, to get to push it far enough to get fired for it and then to speak publicly with such clarion language and such uncompromising, just brevity and clarity on what happened and what is wrong with it, is a mitzvah is a serious mitzvah to the country. and that i

mel gibson pled no contest to beating up his girlfriend while she was holding their child.l, but he was sentenced to community service counseling and three years of probation. so this is a policy and political decision by the trump administration to give gun rights to felons convicted, convicted of domestic violence. it's not a legal issue because the supreme court, as much as it loves gun rights, says that people who've committed these kinds of serious domestic crimes, domestic abuse crimes, can have their guns taken away from them. >> as paul just laid out, this is part of a continuum. trump ordered revoke the security clearances of former secretary of state antony blinken, former national security adviser jake sullivan, former deputy attorney general lisa monaco, new york attorney general letitia james, manhattan district attorney alvin bragg, attorneys mark zaid, norman eisen, andrew weissman. i mean, what he is up to is pretty transparent and clear, and i think there's a question of whether the things he's taking away. and then there are the people that he is putting i

coming up, kash patel could be bringing agents into the october gone and mel gibson joining effort to jude has gotten us through it. st. jude is hope for every child diagnosed with cancer because the research is being shared all over the world. total beets, america's best-selling beets brand, is available at walmart. total beets blood pressure support soft chews contain a key ingredient clinically shown to deliver two times better blood pressure support. take control of your health. head to walmart and get total beets blood pressure support soft chews today. force factor ultra berberine is the #1 best-selling berberine supplement at walmart. ultra berberine contains clinically studied ingredients to promote fat loss, improve weight management, and support blood sugar for powerful, effective results. rush to walmart and find force factor ultra berberine. >> that's some chore reigns leading music and -- cheery music that pope francis resting and remaining in stable condition after suffering a set while battling double pneumonia and praying for the pope hoping to make a full recovery. je

sylvester stallone or mel gibson?ing at know the answer. >> newsom has been an officer. >> jesse: 0-1 with your fancy petal arrangement. you know where you are? you are in the jungle, baby. don't let him get in your head. round two here we go. minneapolis... back for a second term but which a former boxing champion declared trump is the best present at the country has ever had a? iron mike tyson or floyd mayweather? >> bone bank pallet. >> shoot. >> this is a great president. >> he is the best president we have ever had it. >> money weather. >> jesse: down to two to go. the money you will make is in overdrive or when you are this is over? all right stranger change or -- danger. people are worried about this fire to cnn anchor who posted a video of himself medically chasing new york city subways trying to show passengers a photo of a donkey. was it brian seltzer or don lemon? would you look at that. >> i caught jimmy p again. >> know you did not! >> jesse: should we take a point away? we will have to subtract points. w

is it sylvester stallone or mel gibson? i ain't looking. >> i know the answer. >> newsom. >> since he's been in. >> lyman is off. >> for one. >> with your. >> fancy paddle arrangement. >> you know. where you are. >> you're in the jungle, baby. >> don't get rattled, lyman. this is what he does. don't let him get in your head. >> the comeback is greater than the setback. >> all right, round two. here we go. many athletes have had trump's back for his second term. but which former boxing champ declared trump's the best president the country has ever had? was it iron mike tyson or floyd mayweather? >> boom. >> bang. >> pow! >> shoot! >> and i stopped. trump is. >> is a great. >> president even. >> a match? >> he's the best. >> president at this point. >> he's the best president we ever had. >> money mayweather. >> down two with two to go lyman. >> money mayweather not. >> to be confused. >> with the money. >> you'll make is an uber driver when this is over. >> and i'm going to be great. spare change. thank you. >> all right. st

fealty to trump over their own power, and a top justice official gets fired because of trump's buddy mel gibson and he's taking his belt off. you know. >> my exclusive interview with fired former pardon attorney liz oyer and all in starts right now.