Emil Bove, a former prosecutor and now deputy attorney general, has never served as a judge. His main qualification seems to be his role as Donald Trump’s personal lawyer. He was already reeking of corruption when he “ordered career prosecutors to dismiss corruption charges against New York City Mayor Eric Adams in a clear quid pro quo deal,” as HuffPost described it.
Now, The New York Times has published a bombshell report that should put the final nail in the coffin for Bove’s nomination and permanently kick him out of the U.S. judicial system altogether. But with Trump lackeys running Congress and Bove's confirmation hearing on Wednesday…
The Times’ reporting is based on a whistleblower report given to lawmakers and the Department of Justice and provided to The Times by a since-fired DOJ lawyer named Erez Reuveni. It’s long, detailed and credible.
HuffPost has a good summary:
The complaint filed by Reuveni, a highly praised career Justice Department lawyer who was fired after truthfully stating in court that the administration had wrongfully removed Maryland resident Kilmar Abrego Garcia to El Salvador, alleges that “high level governmental personnel knowingly and willfully defied court orders, directed their subordinate attorneys to make misrepresentations to courts, and engaged in scheme to withhold relevant information from the court to advance the Administration’s priority of deporting noncitizens.” Reuveni is represented by Dana Gold and Andrea Meza of the Government Accountability Project, a nonprofit whistleblower legal group.
Bove, whom Trump has nominated for a seat on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 3rd Circuit, was the leader of this scheme within DOJ, according to Reuveni. At a meeting of senior DOJ leadership convened to discuss the Alien Enemies Act removals, Bove said they “would need to consider telling the courts ‘fuck you’ and ignore” any court order preventing the removal of immigrants to the prison in El Salvador, Reuveni’s complaint alleges. It also alleges that Deputy Assistant Attorney General Drew Ensign willfully lied to the court hearing the removal case as part of the scheme to deceive the court. Reuveni was also repeatedly pressured to lie to the court and ultimately fired for refusing to do so.
The DOJ has not rebutted any specific allegations beyond an attack on the messengers by Bove’s boss, Todd Blanche, another of Trump’s personal lawyers.
Via The Times:
Mr. Bove’s boss, Todd Blanche, called Mr. Reuveni’s description of events “falsehoods purportedly made by a disgruntled former employee and then leaked to the press in violation of ethical obligations.” Mr. Blanche denounced this article as “a false hit piece a day before a confirmation hearing,” criticizing The Times for publishing it.
“The claims about Department of Justice leadership are utterly false,” he said in a statement.
In case that isn’t enough to persuade you that Blanche is the liar here, The Times further notes:
The filing, however, suggests a copious trail of emails, texts and phone records that would support Mr. Reuveni’s version of events. It notes that he was recently promoted, and had diligently defended controversial immigration policies of the first Trump administration.
But wait, Sen. Adam Schiff has much more. In the video above, published six days before Reuveni’s whistleblower report, Schiff laid out a slew of other reasons why Bove should never be allowed to wear any judge’s robe, much less get in position for a Supreme Court nomination.
