Former Trump attorney Emil Bove faces contentious hearing on judicial bid

WASHINGTON — Republicans on the Senate Judiciary Committee on Wednesday largely backed President Donald Trump’s choice of his former criminal defense attorney Emil Bove for a lifetime appointment to an appellate court, as Democrats used a confirmation hearing to question if he acted as a political agent on Trump’s behalf in his current Justice Department role.

Democrats asked about a whistleblower accusation that Bove in March contemplated defying possible future federal court orders on immigration, about whether he had moved to dismiss a federal corruption case against New York Mayor Eric Adams in exchange for immigration enforcement concessions, and about the firing of federal prosecutors who worked on the prosecutions of rioters who attacked the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021.

Sen. Richard J. Durbin of Illinois, the top Democrat on the committee, said that compared to other judicial picks from Trump’s first term, Bove “is in a category all of his own.”

“Having earned his stripes as a loyalist to this president, he’s been rewarded with this lifetime nomination,” Durbin said.

Chairman Charles E. Grassley, R-Iowa, defended Bove, arguing that “breathless claims” of Bove’s bias did not undermine his record as a former federal prosecutor and private attorney.

Bove, who once served as a federal prosecutor in the Southern District of New York, has spent the first few months of Trump’s second term as a top Justice Department official.

Prior to Trump’s victory, Bove served as a defense attorney along with Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche in the federal criminal cases against him and the New York state case, where Trump was convicted of 34 felonies for falsifying business records to hide a hush money payment in his 2016 campaign.

The federal cases were dropped following Trump’s victory last year due to a DOJ policy that sitting presidents cannot be prosecuted.

In May, Trump announced the nomination of Bove for the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 3rd Circuit, which hears appeals from federal courts in Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Delaware and the Virgin Islands.

“Mr Bove checks every box, academic distinction, federal clerkships, complex trial and appellate litigation, senior justice department leadership. His experience isn’t just sufficient, it is very exceptional,” Grassley said.

Adams case

Most Republicans on the panel downplayed the allegations against Bove. Sen. Eric Schmitt, R-Mo., called them “fake outrage on lawfare” from Democrats. Others, such as Sens. Josh Hawley, R-Mo., and Mike Lee, R-Utah, asked about Bove’s approach to the law.

During the hearing Bove pushed back on what he called a “wildly inaccurate caricature of me” in press reports.

“I’m not anyone’s henchman. I’m not an enforcer,” Bove said.

Bove said that following his representation of Trump he had a mission to make sure the “unelected bureaucracy of the department is not in position to subvert the political will of the democratically elected president.”

Bove personally intervened in court to seek the dismissal of a corruption case against Adams after several prosecutors resigned rather than drop the case. The judge presiding over the case eventually dismissed the charges but said the deal “smacked of a bargain” between the Trump administration and Adams in exchange for help on Trump’s immigration policies.

Bove at the hearing denied that there was any quid pro quo in the decision to drop the case, and that it was based on “policy decisions,” not the merits of the case. He also confirmed that one of the policy considerations for dismissing the case was so that Adams could pursue Trump’s preferred immigration policies.

Sen. John Kennedy, R-La., pressed Bove repeatedly over the decision to drop the Adams case, asking Bove to “swear to your higher being” that he did not drop the charges because of a deal with Adams.

“Absolutely not,” Bove said.

“Do you swear on your higher being?” Kennedy asked.

“On every bone in my body,” Bove said.

Bove said that Attorney General Pamela Bondi participated in the discussion to drop the Adams case, but did not answer when Kennedy and other senators asked if anyone outside the DOJ participated in the decision to drop the charges against Adams.

Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., criticized Bove when he would not answer whether Bove consulted with Stephen Miller, who serves as White House deputy chief of staff for policy and homeland security, or other White House staff on the decision to drop the Adams case.

Blumenthal said the public should have the impression that Bove was nominated because he took steps on behalf of Trump.

“You were virtually the only attorney in the Department of Justice willing to go to court and make a claim that career prosecutors said violated their basic ethics and the quid pro quo was a nomination to the court of appeals,” Blumenthal said.

Whistleblower

On Tuesday, attorneys representing former Justice Department lawyer Erez Reuveni sent a letter to the Judiciary Committee as well as the DOJ inspector general alleging that Bove discussed plans to defy federal court orders at a March meeting ahead of planned deportations under the Alien Enemies Act.

Reuveni said he was fired by the DOJ in April for refusing to file court papers that “misrepresented” facts in the high-profile mistaken deportation case of Kilmar Abrego Garcia to El Salvador.

Bove pushed back on the Reuveni report, saying that they did not reflect the actions he took in the department. “I have never advised a Justice Department attorney to defy a court order,” Bove said.

Bove’s statements did not contradict Reuveni’s allegations, which said that Bove had publicly contemplated defying hypothetical court orders ahead of time during a hearing in March.

Bove later said he did not recall whether he said the DOJ “would need to consider telling the courts ‘fuck you’” to courts who ordered the deportations to stop, which was included in Reuveni’s letter.

Sen. Adam B. Schiff, D-Calif., pushed the committee to ask the Justice Department for notes of those and other meetings.

Sen. Cory Booker, D-N.J., pointed out that Bove was nominated just three months after the Trump White House started consulting with New Jersey senators about the choice, and that Bove was named after all Democrats on the panel submitted a New York bar complaint over Bove’s conduct in the Adams case.

During the hearing, Booker said Bove’s conduct was “violative of the shared values we have of who should be on the bench.” Booker also invoked Grassley’s public record of backing whistleblowers and said that Reuveni should be allowed to testify on his allegations against Bove.

Booker pressed Bove several times about direct quotes from a call that Bove had with members of the Public Integrity Section of the DOJ over the Adams case seeking an attorney to seek dismissal of the case, which Bove repeatedly denied.

“I am hoping more evidence is going to come out that shows that you lied before this committee,” Booker said.

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