Latest news with #ThirdCircuit
Yahoo
3 days ago
- Politics
- Yahoo
Pam Bondi Thinks Lying to a Federal Judge Makes You a Great Person
U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi considers senior Justice Department official Emil Bove, who attempted to lie to a federal judge to speed up deportations, to be one of the 'best human beings' she knows. On Wednesday, Bondi was questioned by Senator Chris Van Hollen over recent disclosures from Justice Department whistleblower Erez Reuveni, who was fired by the Trump administration after admitting that the deportation of Kilmar Abrego Garcia was an 'administrative error.' Now Reuveni claims that Bove, at a meeting ahead of the invocation of the wartime Alien Enemies Act of 1798, told attendees to tell the courts 'fuck you' and ignore any court orders that may stop a plane from taking off or a detainment from occuring. '[Reuvini] says he was fired because he didn't want to make an untruthful statement to a court of law,' said Van Hollen. 'I have two questions. Number one, I assume you agree that zealous advocacy does not mean telling untruths to courts of law. And second, if that's not the case, what do you mean by saying he was not a zealous advocate?' Van Hollen hadn't even named Bove, but Bondi immediately took it as an attack on her colleague. 'Senator Van Hollen, this is all pending litigation, as you're well aware, and the timing of it. I can't discuss pending litigation. This is a whistleblower lawsuit pending within my office, but I will say the timing of it I find suspect,' Bondi replied. 'He takes hits at Emil Bove, who is one of the best human beings I know, one of the smartest, brilliant men I know, who will soon become a federal judge, and his hearing happens to be today, and I find the irony of the timing of it pretty remarkable, the lawsuit, but this had to do with attorney-client privilege information that was disclosed. I can't talk about the substance, but what I will tell you, and you have obviously my word, any zealous advocacy means to be done ethically and honestly, always. And that's what I mean by zealous advocacy.' Bove is currently going through confirmation for a lifetime appointment to be a judge on the United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit. Aside from the open corruption he's accused of by Reuveni, Bove also unsuccessfully defended Trump in the Stormy Daniels hush-money trial, was key in dropping the multiple corruption charges against New York City Mayor Eric Adams in exchange for his loyalty, fired prosecutors who investigated January 6 and accused the FBI of 'insubordination' for not turning over the names of other staffers who worked on the investigation, and as a New York state prosecutor was described by colleagues as someone who could not 'be bothered to treat lesser mortals with respect or empathy.'
Boston Globe
3 days ago
- Politics
- Boston Globe
Trump judicial nominee Bove faces questions as whistleblower claims he floated ignoring court orders
Get Starting Point A guide through the most important stories of the morning, delivered Monday through Friday. Enter Email Sign Up The White House said Bove 'is unquestionably qualified for the role and has a career filled with accolades, both academically and throughout his legal career, that should make him a shoo-in for the Third Circuit.' Advertisement 'The President is committed to nominating constitutionalists to the bench who will restore law and order and end the weaponization of the justice system, and Emil Bove fits that mold perfectly,' White House spokesperson Harrison Fields said in an email. Bove is likely to face heated questions over the allegations made by the whistleblower, Erez Reuveni, who was fired in April after conceding in court that Kilmar Abrego Garcia, a Salvadoran man who had been living in Maryland, was mistakenly deported to an El Salvador prison. Reuveni sent a letter on Tuesday to members of Congress and the Justice Department's inspector general seeking an investigation into allegations of wrongdoing by Bove and other officials in the weeks leading up to his firing. Advertisement Reuveni described a Justice Department meeting in March concerning Trump's plans to invoke the Alien Enemies Act over what the president claimed was an invasion by the Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua. Reuveni says Bove raised the possibility that a court might block the deportations before they could happen. Reuveni claims Bove used a profanity in saying the department would need to consider telling the courts what to do and 'ignore any such order,' Reuveni's lawyers said in the letter. Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche called the allegations 'utterly false,' saying that he was at the March meeting and 'at no time did anyone suggest a court order should not be followed.' 'Planting a false hit piece the day before a confirmation hearing is something we have come to expect from the media, but it does not mean it should be tolerated,' Blanche wrote in a post on X on Tuesday. Bove has been at the center of other moves that have roiled the Justice Department in recent months, including the order to dismiss New York City Mayor Eric Adams' federal corruption case. Bove's order prompted the resignation of several Justice Department officials, including Manhattan's top federal prosecutor, who accused the department of acceding to a quid pro quo — dropping the case to ensure Adams' help with Trump's immigration agenda. Advertisement
Fox News
4 days ago
- Politics
- Fox News
Top DOJ official faces test in Senate over nomination to become federal judge
Emil Bove will appear Wednesday before the Senate, where he is expected to face tough questions during a hearing about his controversial entrance into Justice Department leadership and former role as President Donald Trump's personal lawyer. Trump nominated Bove, who fiercely defended the president during his criminal prosecutions, to serve in a lifetime role as a judge on the Pennsylvania-based Third Circuit Court of Appeals. Trump said Bove would "restore the Rule of Law," a remark that came as sitting judges have drawn Trump's ire for handing down dozens of orders blocking parts of his agenda. Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche, who has worked closely with Bove for years, told Fox News Digital in a phone interview ahead of the Senate Judiciary Committee hearing that Bove was a "freaking brilliant lawyer" and that his nomination to the appellate court was a "no-brainer." Blanche described his colleague as the "most gentle, empathetic, great person that anybody could ever work with," a characterization sharply at odds with some who have been in Bove's crosshairs. Bove's background In his early years, Bove was a high-achieving student, a division one athlete on his college lacrosse team and a Georgetown University law school graduate. He went on to clerk for two federal judges and worked for about a decade as federal prosecutor in the Southern District of New York, where he led high-profile terrorism and drug trafficking cases through 2019. Blanche brought Bove into his private practice, where they tag-teamed Trump's prosecutions, including by appearing by the president's side during his six-week hush money trial in Manhattan last year. At the end of it, Trump was convicted by a jury of 34 counts of falsifying business records, marking the lone case out of Trump's four to lead to a conviction. 'Superb' legal writer Blanche said that behind the scenes, Bove was critical to their defense work and wrote the vast majority of their legal briefs. In letters to the Senate, a group of Republican state attorneys general said Bove was courageous for representing Trump "when few other attorneys would step up." Attorney Gene Schaerr called Bove's brief writing "superb." One of Bove's past law firms said he was "eminently qualified." Nearly three dozen retired law enforcement officials praised Bove as a "trusted and respected partner," saying he had a profound understanding of the Drug Enforcement Administration and was responsible for breaking apart transnational criminal networks. "His efforts have directly contributed to high-impact cases that have saved lives and protected vulnerable populations," the retired officials wrote. Others heaped similar praise. Eric Adams debacle The rosy picture that Blanche and Bove's supporters paint is drastically different from the one presented by a handful of DOJ officials who left the department because of Bove and defense lawyers who observed him in action during his time as a New York prosecutor. While Bove was serving as acting deputy attorney general ahead of Blanche's confirmation in March, two top lawyers in the Manhattan U.S. attorney's office and five officials in the DOJ's Public Integrity Section chose to abruptly leave their jobs instead of complying with Bove's order to drop New York Mayor Eric Adams's federal corruption charges. During the debacle, a judge dismissed the Democratic mayor's charges with prejudice, instead of without prejudice as Bove had requested, meaning the Trump administration could not bring the case again. The judge's decision came after the ousted lawyers blasted Bove for engaging in a dishonest quid pro quo with the mayor. The chain of events left some conservative legal analysts harshly questioning the wisdom of Bove's actions, saying it undermined the DOJ's work. Immigration whistleblower Trump's mass deportation plan involved the unprecedented move of invoking a wartime law called the Alien Enemies Act. Bove indicated during an internal meeting in March that he anticipated judges would attempt to shut down the operation, according to attorney Erez Reuveni. Reuveni, a 15-year DOJ veteran who was fired after struggling to defend one of the Trump administration's deportation during a Maryland court hearing, said in a whistleblower complaint published Tuesday that Bove shocked meeting attendees by telling them they would "need to consider telling the courts 'f*** you' and ignore any such court order." Reuveni said Bove's remarks were far afield of anything he had heard at DOJ during his tenure there and that court defiance and misleading judges were a hallmark of the department during some of the most controversial immigration cases that arose in March. DOJ attorneys have been admonished by judges for appearing to flout court orders, but they have, thus far, avoided being held in contempt of court and other sanctions. 'Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde' Bove was known by some of his peers as a zealous prosecutor during his SDNY days, but defense lawyers were alarmed by his ruthlessness. Some viewed him as vicious, rude and power-hungry, according to interviews with attorneys and media reports. One longtime defense lawyer who crossed paths with Bove in New York told Fox News Digital the nominee was an arrogant "bully" and browbeat people. In 2018, a band of defense lawyers said in emails reported by the Associated Press that Bove needed "adult supervision" and could not "be bothered to treat lesser mortals with respect or empathy." A retired New York City FBI agent told the Associated Press that Bove's perceived turnabout on Jan. 6 riot cases was "almost like Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde." Bove showed no outward concerns while in New York when he helped with prosecuting the cases, the retired agent said. When Bove stepped into his role at Trump's DOJ, he warned the FBI in a formidable memo that leadership would take "personnel action" against FBI agents who participated in Jan. 6 cases, which Trump "appropriately described as a 'grave national injustice' that has been perpetrated upon the American people," Bove wrote. The notion that thousands of employees who interacted in some way with a Jan. 6 case would see their jobs at risk prompted Bove to issue a follow-up note clarifying that employees who merely followed orders had no reason to worry. An online petition launched by retired New York federal prosecutor Laurie Korenbaum has dozens of signatures as of this publishing and calls Bove's nomination a "travesty." Senate Judiciary Committee Democrats have demanded more information on Bove's time at SDNY, signaling they plan to grill Bove over it during the hearing. Blanche told Fox News Digital the viewpoints surfacing in the media about Bove were "distorted." "The misconception about him is completely driven by kind of a fear that if he takes the bench, he's going to do something crazy, which he will not," Blanche said.
Washington Post
28-05-2025
- General
- Washington Post
Trump picks top Justice Dept. official who was his lawyer to be a judge
President Donald Trump's latest pick for the federal bench is a top Justice Department official who steered the dropping of criminal charges against New York Mayor Eric Adams and has been pivotal in executing the department's immigration policies and personnel upheaval. Trump said on social media on Wednesday that he is nominating Emil Bove — the Justice Department's principal associate deputy attorney general — to sit on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit, which covers Delaware, New Jersey and Pennsylvania.
Axios
28-05-2025
- Politics
- Axios
Trump nominates his former defense lawyer to serve as federal appellate judge
President Trump nominated his former personal attorney Emil Bove to serve as a judge on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit on Wednesday. The big picture: Trump has sought to exert the power of the executive branch over the judiciary, and appointing Bove — who represented him in several criminal cases — to a key federal appeals court seat could help the president's agenda. Driving the news: "Emil is SMART, TOUGH, and respected by everyone," Trump wrote in a Truth Social post Wednesday. "He will end the Weaponization of Justice, restore the Rule of Law, and do anything else that is necessary to, MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN," he said, adding, "Emil Bove will never let you down!" Context: Bove was appointed by Trump in his second term to the No. 3 spot in the Department of Justice. He was among the DOJ officials pushing to drop charges against New York City Mayor Eric Adams in a dramatic battle between the Trump loyalists and career civil servants. Bove previously represented Trump in a number of high profile cases, including the classified documents case and his effort to overturn the 2020 election case brought by special counsel Jack Smith.
