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 defy court orders.

Emil Bove, the principal deputy attorney general, has been nominated for a lifetime appointment to a bench of the Third 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 (R-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 the 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 Justice Department.  Should his nomination advance Thursday, he would be launched to a sphere of the judiciary often tapped for Supreme Court justices.

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, 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 that DOJ would need to consider telling the courts ‘f–k 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.

In an exchange with colleagues, Reuveni can be seen discussing Bove’s remarks with coworkers, saying they were reaching “a decision point on f–k 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 Jan. 6 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.”