Latest news with #EmilBove
Yahoo
3 days ago
- Politics
- Yahoo
Democrats scramble to torpedo controversial Trump judicial nominee
Senate Judiciary Democrats are scrambling to make their case as the panel weighs the controversial judicial nomination of a Trump official accused of proposing the Justice Department (DOJ) defy court orders. Emil Bove, the principal deputy attorney general, has been nominated for a lifetime appointment to a bench of the 3rd Circuit Court of Appeals. Democrats made a last-ditch effort Tuesday to call a hearing with the whistleblower who said he heard Bove suggest the Trump administration should consider ignoring potential court rulings on their plans to send migrants to foreign prisons, with Bove saying they may tell the courts, 'F‑‑‑ you.' But Bove looks poised to proceed, as the one Senate Judiciary Republican who has opposed the nominee, Sen. Thom Tillis (N.C.) has signaled he would back his confirmation, which would bring a vote before the full Senate. Bove is expected to have the votes to win confirmation on the Senate floor, where Republicans have a 53-47 seat majority. Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) said the committee must hear from the whistleblower behind the accusations: Erez Reuveni, who was fired after a disclosure he made in a related case, telling a judge that Kilmar Abrego Garcia was deported in error. 'I don't think we should move forward with this vote until we've given the whistleblower an opportunity under oath before the committee to tell us what happened, what we have here. Mr. Bove was in a position where he was encouraging members of the Department of Justice to mislead the judge on the case. That is just unacceptable, unprofessional conduct,' Durbin said Tuesday on CNN referencing the planned Thursday vote. 'This gentleman is prepared to go under oath and to speak to the committee about what he saw and what Mr. Bove did. We should get that done before there's any vote in the committee on his nomination.' Judiciary Chair Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa), however, says the vote will go forward as planned. Bove, previously a member of Trump's personal criminal defense team, currently serves in the No. 3 spot in the DOJ. Should his nomination advance Thursday, he would be launched to a sphere of the judiciary from which Supreme Court justices are often chosen. Numerous groups have also objected to Bove's nomination. Seventy-five formal federal judges signed on to a letter opposing his nomination, calling his dismissal of prosecutors, involvement in killing the bribery prosecution of New York Mayor Eric Adams (D), and nods to defying court orders 'disqualifying.' Last week, the committee released substantial documentation from Reuveni showing other DOJ employees present for a March 14 meeting referencing the expletive, as well as floating the directive to defy the courts as President Trump pushed ahead with plans to ignite the Alien Enemies Act and fly some 200 Venezuelan men to a Salvadoran prison. According to a complaint on file with the inspector general, Bove 'made a remark concerning the possibility that a court order would enjoin those removals before they could be effectuated. Bove stated thatthe DOJ would need to consider telling the courts 'f‑‑‑ you' and ignore any such court order. Mr. Reuveni perceived that others in the room looked stunned, and he observed awkward, nervous glances among people in the room.' 'Mr. Reuveni was in disbelief, because, on the contrary, the Department of Justice consistently advises its clients of their obligation to follow court orders, not to ignore them. Mr. Reuveni knew that it was absurd and unlawful to do otherwise,' the whistleblower relayed in his disclosure. The documents released by Durbin provide greater details about an episode that prompted the judge overseeing a challenge to the flights to conclude there was probable cause for criminal contempt, finding Trump administration willfully defied his order to halt or turn around the planes of migrants. In an exchange with colleagues, Reuveni can be seen discussing Bove's remarks with coworkers, saying they were reaching 'a decision point on f‑‑‑ you.' Bove said he couldn't recall whether he used the expletive but sidestepped questions about whether he ordered defiance of the courts. 'I've certainly said things encouraging litigators at the department to fight hard for valid positions that we have to take,' Bove said at his confirmation hearing. 'I certainly conveyed the importance of the upcoming operation,' he added about the Alien Enemies Act flights. Democrats have grilled Bove about his stance on the Jan. 6, 2021, riot, as the DOJ official was involved with dismissing prosecutors who worked on the cases of rioters and also demanded a list of FBI personnel who helped investigate the cases. They had hoped Tillis might side with them, given his statement in a recent CNN interview after announcing his retirement that those who 'excused' Jan. 6 would not get his backing. Bove, in written questions for the record, said he could not recall where he was as rioters stormed the Capitol but otherwise said he does not see his skepticism of Jan. 6 prosecutions as being at odds with his stance of opposing violence against law enforcement. 'As a former prosecutor with almost a decade of experience enforcing criminal laws, I condemn all forms of illegal activity. That is especially true with respect to acts of violence against law enforcement,' Bove wrote in documents obtained by The Hill. 'At the same time, based on a variety of professional experiences, I find overreach and heavy-handed tactics by prosecutors and law enforcement to be equally unacceptable.' Tillis previously opposed the nomination of another Justice Department nominee, Ed Martin, who had said Jan. 6 rioters were unfairly prosecuted. 'It was just disqualifying. I mean — he literally was excusing some of the behavior of people who entered the building,' Tillis said of Martin. 'The president should know, if there is anyone coming up for a nomination through any committee of my jurisdiction that excused January the 6th, that they're not going to get confirmed in my remaining tenure in the U.S. Senate.' But speaking with The Hill on Tuesday, Tillis reiterated his plans to follow the staff recommendation on the Bove nomination. 'Right now, the staff has a yes recommendation. I don't see any reason to oppose them,' he said. 'Anybody who excuses that behavior has a problem with me,' Tillis said about Jan. 6, but said he hadn't seen that from Bove. 'But I haven't seen that yet, and Dick Durbin didn't add any to the conversation last week,' Tillis added. For his part, Grassley also pushed back on Reuveni's allegations, saying the documents released by Durbin didn't directly show wrongdoing by Bove. 'I do not believe that they substantiate any misconduct by Mr. Bove,' Grassley wrote in a Tuesday letter to Durbin. 'Almost none of the additional documents you published include, reference, or even cite Mr. Bove. Most of the communications merely reflect Administration attorneys internally debating or discussing litigation strategy and the scope of court orders. Debate about the scope of court orders is fundamentally inconsistent with an intention to ignore them.' Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Yahoo
3 days ago
- Politics
- Yahoo
900 DOJ attorneys urge Senate to reject Bove nomination
More than 900 former Justice Department attorneys are urging the Senate Judiciary Committee to reject the nomination of Emil Bove for a lifetime judicial appointment. Bove, who previously served on President Trump's criminal defense team, is now in the No. 3 role at the Department of Justice (DOJ) and has been nominated for a judgeship on the 3rd Circuit Court of Appeals. The extraordinary outpouring came from attorneys from the Kennedy administration to the current Trump administration who pinpointed Bove as a key figure behind numerous firings and policy shifts, calling him a 'leader in this assault' on the Justice Department. 'Emil Bove has been an architect and enforcer of many of the attacks on DOJ and its employees,' said Stacey Young, executive director and founder of Justice Connection, which organized the letter. 'His nomination to the Third Circuit Court of Appeals sent shockwaves across DOJ's workforce, and should alarm all Americans concerned about the Department's future and the survival of the rule of law.' The Senate Judiciary Committee is set to consider Bove's nomination Thursday, as well as that of Fox News host Jeanine Pirro to serve as a U.S. attorney. The letter runs through a string of recent controversies in which Bove has played a role. He was central in pushing the dismissal of the bribery charges brought against New York City Mayor Eric Adams, prompting a wave of resignations from members of the department's Public Integrity Section. He was behind the terminations of prosecutors who worked on Jan. 6, 2021, cases and a request to turn over a list of FBI agents who investigated riot cases. It also focuses on recent allegations from a DOJ whistleblower who said Bove told top department officials they may need to consider saying 'f‑‑‑ you' to judges who might block the administration's invocation of the Alien Enemies Act to send migrants to a Salvadoran prison. Bove has said he couldn't recall whether he used the expletive, but he told lawmakers during his confirmation hearing that he 'certainly conveyed the importance of the upcoming operation.' 'Each one of the undersigned would testify, under oath, that we have never — and would never — tell a Justice Department attorney to consider defying a court order. Moreover, the Justice Department's later defiance of judicial mandates in the cases where Mr. Bove previewed doing so further suggests that disregarding court orders was Mr. Bove's intent all along,' the letter states. Bove's nomination looks poised to proceed, as Sen. Thom Tillis (N.C.), the only Republican on the panel to previously oppose a Trump nominee, has said he would follow the staff recommendation. 'We ask that before the Judiciary Committee votes on this nomination, you rigorously examine the actions Mr. Bove has taken at DOJ and the effects they've had on the Department's integrity, employees, and mission-critical work,' the attorneys wrote. 'It is intolerable to us that anyone who disgraces the Justice Department would be promoted to one of the highest courts in the land, as it should be intolerable to anyone committed to maintaining our ordered system of justice.' Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Yahoo
3 days ago
- Politics
- Yahoo
Democrats walk out of Bove, Pirro meeting as panel advances controversial Trump nominees
The Senate Judiciary Committee gave its approval to two controversial Trump nominees Thursday, forwarding Emil Bove and Jeanine Pirro over objections from Democrats who walked out of a business meeting after debate was cut short. Bove, one of President Trump's former criminal defense attorneys who is now in the No. 3 spot in the Justice Department, has been nominated for a lifetime appointment as a jurist on the 3rd Circuit Court of Appeals. He has been accused by a whistleblower of saying the administration should consider telling the courts 'f‑‑‑ you' and defy any injunctions imposed by judges blocking their use of the Alien Enemies Act. Pirro, a former county judge and Fox News host, was confirmed as a nominee for U.S. attorney for Washington, D.C. The meeting made for an unusual scene, as Sen. Cory Booker (D-N.J.) appealed to Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) on personal terms after Grassley, the committee chair, cut off requests for continued debate and did not allow all Democrats to speak on the Bove nomination. 'You are a good man. You are a decent man, why are you doing this? What is Donald Trump saying to you that are making you do something which is violating the decorum of this committee, the rules of this committee, the decency and the respect that we have each other to at least hear each other out?' Booker said. 'This is unjust. This is wrong. It is the further deterioration of this committee's integrity with a person like this. What are you afraid of?' Booker then exited alongside the rest of his colleagues, a rare protest leaving the Democratic side of the dais completely empty. Democrats had centered most of their focus on Bove, who in addition to the whistleblower allegations, was behind the dismissal of multiple prosecutors who worked on Jan. 6 cases, and also pushed for the dismissal of bribery charges against New York Mayor Eric Adams, prompting a wave of resignations. Erez Reuveni, the whistleblower who made the complaint against Bove, was fired after a disclosure he made in a related case when he told a judge that El Salvador migrant Kilmar Abrego Garcia was deported back to his home country in error. But as the Trump administration planned to send Venezuelan men to be imprisoned in a notorious Salvadoran facility, Reuveni said he witnessed Bove suggesting court defiance was an option ahead of an episode where the administration withheld information from a judge and failed to turn around deportation flights as ordered. Reuveni has offered to appear before the Senate panel but Grassley said the disclosure smacked of 'a political hit job.' He declined to take up a motion from Booker to take a vote on hearing from the whistleblower. 'Let's start with a credible whistleblower who came forward with texts and emails that show that Mr. Bove said 'F you' to the courts and instructed federal officials to ignore a court order….I'm hard pressed to believe that someone who dedicated 15 years to public service would jeopardize the career, the safety of themselves and their families for no reason,' Booker said. Bove has said he doesn't recall whether he used the expletive but sidestepped questions about whether he floated defying court orders, telling the committee during his confirmation hearing that he 'certainly conveyed the importance of the upcoming operation.' A judge overseeing challenges to the deportation flights later found probable cause to begin an inquiry into whether the Trump administration defied his order to halt the planes. Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.) later chimed in, saying texts among Justice Department staff show the expletive-laden directive was 'so abundantly corroborated in real time communications.' 'Prosecutors don't get better corroboration than that.' Grassley called the complaint an example of 'vicious partisan attacks.' 'Like clockwork, just before a hearing or vote, we get another breathless accusation that one of President Trump's nominees needs to be investigated,' he said. 'Even if you accept most of the claims as true, there's no scandal here. Government lawyers aggressively litigating and interpreting court orders isn't misconduct—it's what lawyers do.' Beyond the whistleblower allegations, Democrats have sparred over Bove's roles in sidelining and firing prosecutors who worked on Jan. 6 cases. Bove has been the target of numerous letters urging lawmakers to reject his nomination, including 900 former Justice Department attorneys who have accused him of dismantling key functions to keep the department independent from the White House. 'Federal prosecutors, career professionals have raised strong reservations about Mr. Bove, who had undermined their legitimate work to hold accountable people who did the most horrific acts of violence,' Booker said, noting some fired prosecutors were unable to secure meetings with Republicans on the committee. '[It's] almost as if they don't want to hear the truth or the facts or the details. How can you say you were concerned about what happened on Jan. 6 and you won't listen to the people who spent months and months and months prosecuting those cases,' Booker said. Efforts to highlight Bove's role in terminations were a clear appeal to Sen. Thom Tillis (R-N.C.), who told CNN he would not support nominees who have excused Jan. 6. But Tillis backed Bove on Thursday, saying Democrats failed to show he condoned the riots. 'Does anybody really believe that if I was convinced that Bove had made any statements condoning the violent acts against Capitol police officers, that I'd be voting for him? Just ask Ed Martin whether or not that's a red line,' Tillis said, quashing the prospects of a nominee Pirro was then tapped to replace. 'We have to distinguish between those 2-or-300 thugs that I believe should still be in prison — and disagreed on the Senate floor with the president pardoning them — from the from the boneheads, that for some reason, thought they should enter the Capitol through broken windows and doors,' TIllis said. 'Do your homework on finding a hard example and count me in to refuse confirming that nominee. But don't finesse it when you simply don't have the facts on your side,' he said. The meeting ended before either side had a chance to discuss Pirro, whose nomination garnered less attention in the wake of the focus on Bove. Republicans had praised Trump for a thoughtful choice in tapping a former judge and prosecutor to lead the U.S. Attorney's Office in D.C. Pirro has already been serving in the role on an interim basis. But Democrats have argued Pirro floated false claims about the 2020 election, making her too loyal to Trump to be counted on as a fair-minded prosecutor. 'She's an election denialist, recklessly peddling President Trump's Big Lie despite even her own Fox News producers and executives warning her to reel it in,' Sen. Dick Durbin (Ill.) the top Democrat on the panel, said after a Wednesday meeting with Pirro. 'And ultimately, she's a Donald Trump loyalist, vengefully attacking his perceived political opponents and showing no willingness to put the rule of law ahead of the President's wishes.' Updated: 11:45 a.m. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Wall Street Journal
4 days ago
- Politics
- Wall Street Journal
Trump's Judicial Pick Emil Bove Advances to the Senate Floor
The Senate gets moving on Donald Trump's appeals-court nominees, including Emil Bove for the Third Circuit, despite a Democratic walkout of the Judiciary Committee meeting. What questions remain about Bove's record at the Justice Department, including his handling of the Eric Adams case? And could his appointment affect whether other judges choose to retire? Photo: Uncredited
Time of India
4 days ago
- Politics
- Time of India
cory booker: 'This is Kangaroo court…': Booker vs Grassley as GOP pushes controversial picks, democrats walk out - The Economic Times Video
US: Democrats stormed out of a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing on Thursday as Republican senators approved the nominations of former Trump attorney Emil Bove to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit and Jeanine Pirro to the U.S. attorney's office for Washington, D.C.
