Latest news with #confirmationHearing
The Independent
25-06-2025
- Politics
- The Independent
Trump's top DOJ enforcer Emil Bove says he's not a ‘henchman' as he denies bombshell whistleblower claims
Emil Bove, Donald Trump's former criminal defense attorney who is now a top Department of Justice official, faced skeptical Democrats on the Senate Judiciary Committee on Wednesday during his confirmation hearing to serve on a federal appeals court in New Jersey. Bove has been at the center of several major Justice Department controversies, from decisions to drop corruption charges against New York City Mayor Eric Adams to the president's sweeping anti-immigration agenda. 'I've disagreed with many nominees who appeared before this committee on matters of constitutional interpretation,' said the committee's top Democrat Sen. Dick Durbin of Illinois. 'This nominee is in a category all of his own.' Bove 'has led the effort to weaponize the Department of Justice against the president's enemies,' according to Durbin. Trump's nominee appeared on the committee one day after a bombshell whistleblower report accused Bove of instructing Justice Department staff to tell judges 'f*** you' and ignore court orders against the president's deportation agenda. 'There is a wildly inaccurate caricature of me in the mainstream media,' Bove said in his opening statement. 'I am not anybody's henchman. I'm not an enforcer.' Democratic Sen. Cory Booker of New Jersey slammed Bove for allegedly pushing Justice Department attorneys to ignore court orders, calling the allegations 'a complete disregard for the rule of law.' 'I did not advise any Justice Department attorney to violate court orders,' Bove said in response. California Democratic Sen. Adam Schiff asked Bove directly whether he suggested telling the courts 'f*** you,' as the whistleblower complaint alleges. Bove said he didn't 'recall' the exact words he used. Booker later outlined complaints made against Bove in 2018, describing him as 'vindictive, always looking for leverage and power, a prosecutorial version of a drunk driver, completely reckless and out of control.' 'I categorically reject any claim of unethical or improper behavior by me,' said Bove. Senators also grilled Bove over his involvement in the Justice Department's decision to drop corruption charges against New York Mayor Eric Adams, which Durbin called a 'quid pro quo' to secure Adams' cooperation with Trump's immigration policies. Bove called the allegation 'completely false.' Durbin also noted that Bove fired dozens of federal prosecutors who worked on cases connected to the January 6, 2021 attack on the Capitol, pointing to Trump's 'false and outrageous claim' that the prosecution of January 6 rioters was a 'grave national injustice.' The senator asked Bove if he had directed the removal of anyone who investigated or prosecuted rioters who assaulted officers on January 6. 'I did and continue to condemn unlawful behavior, particularly violence against law enforcement,' Bove replied. 'At the same time, I condemn heavy-handed and unnecessary tactics by prosecutors and agents,' he said. 'Both of those things, I submit, are characteristic of these events.' Bove said that the charges against Adams were dismissed because of 'the weaponization of the criminal justice system' and 'concerns about the effect of the ongoing prosecution on Mayor Adams' ability to govern and protect the public in New York City and also to campaign in the ongoing mayoral election.' He rejected allegations that he made a political deal to drop the charges against Adams. Democrats repeatedly expressed frustrations with Bove's refusal to answer questions regarding the Adams case. 'I am absolutely flabbergasted that you would come before this committee and refuse to tell us basic facts about a case that is at the core of the challenges to the appearance of impropriety that should disqualify you,' said Connecticut Democratic Sen. Richard Blumenthal. 'Senator, if you have a question about the position that I took in public with respect to the Mayor Adams case, I'm happy to address it, and I've addressed several today,' said Bove. Blumenthal also blasted Bove for having fired prosecutors who worked on January 6 cases. Bove responded that the allegation was inaccurate. 'I was concerned about efforts in the prior administration to embed those prosecutors as permanent employees at the U.S. Attorney's Office,' he said. Democratic Sen. Mazie Hirono of Hawaii also questioned Bove about investigations into his bellicose and aggressive management style. 'When I get constructive criticism, I absolutely take account of that and try and be better at my job and I did that,' Bove said. Those allegations, however, are part of a 'whisper campaign' from prosecutors against him, according to Bove.
Daily Mail
07-05-2025
- Politics
- Daily Mail
FBI head Kash Patel goes ballistic after House Dem accuses him of lying about appearing on anti-semitic podcast
FBI Director Kash Patel went on the offensive after he was accused by a Democrat of lying during his Senate confirmation hearing. It came just days after MSNBC was forced to retract bizarre, unfounded allegations of Patel spending more time partying than in the office. Patel was nominated to run the bureau just 10 days into Donald Trump 's second term and faced questions during hearings about his association with podcaster Stew Peters. Peters is considered by many to be an antisemite, including the Anti-Defamation League. During his hearing, Patel claimed to be unfamiliar with Peters, though several reports uncovered that he had appeared on his podcast at least eight times. Madeleine Dean, a Pennsylvania Democrat who served as a House impeachment manager during the second of two impeachment cases against Trump in his first term, used the hearing to try and tar and feather Patel as a liar. She brought up both this and evidence he had been involved in the January 6th riot and asked: 'Mr. Patel, my second question is, should we worry more about your memory or your veracity?' Patel shot back and offered similar accusations toward Dean. 'We should worry more about your lack of candor. You're accusing me of committing perjury. Tell the American people how I broke the law and committed a felony,' he said. Patel added: Have the audacity to actually put the facts forward instead of lying for political banter so you can have a 20-second donation hit.' Dean then chose to try and answer her own question: 'The answer is both.' 'The answer is you're failing, not me,' quipped Patel. Dean accused the FBI Director of having 'eagerness and childlike giddiness to carry out the president's revenge tour.' 'In your statements before you were sworn in and some after, you have shown yourself unfit to lead this important agency.' Patel also denied accusations from Dean that his book, Government Gangsters, included a so-called 'enemies list.' She asserted that the FBI had become 'weaponized' under Patel and confronted him over a book he had authored, saying a list of Trump adversaries he included in it amounted to an 'enemies list' and was being used by Trump as a 'blueprint for revenge.' Patel replied that he was the one who had been 'targeted by a weaponized FBI,' presumably referring to the fact that he was among the people whose records were secretly seized by the Justice Department years earlier as part of media leak investigations when he was a staffer on the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence conducting an investigation into Russian election interference. 'You should read the book because there´s no enemies list (in) that book,' Patel continued. 'There are people that violated their constitutional obligations and their duties to the American people, and they were rightly called out. And you should give that book to every one of your constituents so they can read' about it. 'I won't be doing that,' Dean shot back. 'That's their loss,' Patel said. Patel broke with the Trump administration Wednesday over a budget proposal that would dramatically slash funding for the bureau, telling lawmakers, 'We need more than what has been proposed.' The 2026 budget proposal released on Friday calls for a funding cut of more than $500 million for the FBI as part of what the White House said was a desire to 'reform and streamline' the bureau and reduce 'non-law enforcement missions that do not align' with the priorities of President Donald Trump. He warned that such a cut would be harmful for the FBI as it reorients priorities to focus on violent crime. The 2026 budget proposal released on Friday calls for a funding cut of more than $500 million for the FBI as part of what the White House said was a desire to 'reform and streamline' the bureau and reduce 'non-law enforcement missions that do not align' with the priorities of President Donald Trump Asked to specify at a House Appropriations subcommittee which positions would need to be cut if the funding reduction was implemented, Patel replied: 'At this time, we have not looked at who to cut. We are focusing our energies on how not to have them cut by coming in here and highlighting to you that we can´t do the mission on those 2011 budget levels.' Rep. Rosa DeLauro, a Connecticut Democrat, pressed Patel for details, saying, 'This is your budget. You have to have some idea of what you want to fund or not fund, or where you can cut or not cut, and provide that information' to the Office of Management and Budget. 'That's the proposed budget - not by the FBI,' Patel replied. 'The proposed budget that I put forward is to cover us for for $11.1 billion, which would not have us cut any positions.' Patel also defended the FBI's plan to relocate about 1,000 FBI employees from the Washington area to cities around the country, one of the first initiatives he revealed upon being sworn in as director in February. 'Part of the process is not just putting people out sporadically, throwing darts on the map. What we´ve done is we´ve taken a process with the (career employees) at the FBI and said, `Where are some of the most violent crime places in America?´' Patel said.
