By Andrew Goudsward and Nate Raymond
WASHINGTON (Reuters) -Justice Department official Emil Bove is expected to face sharp questions from Democratic lawmakers on Wednesday as he appears before a U.S. Senate panel on his nomination by Republican President Donald Trump to serve on a federal appeals court.
Trump last month nominated Bove, formerly one of his personal lawyers, to serve as a life-tenured judge on the Philadelphia-based 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, citing his experience as a terrorism prosecutor and work to end the “weaponization” of the legal justice system against Trump and his supporters.
Bove’s appearance before the Republican-led Senate Judiciary Committee is likely to include questions from Democrats about his tumultuous tenure in Justice Department leadership over the last several months, including his decision to drop a corruption case against New York Mayor Eric Adams and claims he was willing to defy court orders against the Trump administration.
A whistleblower complaint made public on Tuesday from a former Justice Department official, Erez Reuveni, alleged that Bove suggested to colleagues in March, in profane terms, that the government may disregard court orders blocking Trump from using emergency powers to deport migrants.
Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche has called Reuveni’s claims false.
Bove defended Trump in three criminal cases he faced while out of office, including at a New York trial that led to Trump’s conviction on charges he falsified records to pay hush money to a porn star.
Trump allies have prized loyalty to the president in addition to conservative legal credentials in picking federal judges, as they seek to further reshape a federal judiciary that has blocked or slowed many Trump administration policies.
Republicans hold a 53-47 majority in the Senate, meaning Bove would not need to earn Democratic support to be confirmed.
Bove, now the principal deputy assistant attorney general, will likely also face questions about his demand for the FBI to turn over a list of agents who worked on investigations into the January 6, 2021 attack on the U.S. Capitol and his order to dismiss the case against Adams, a Democrat who cultivated ties to Trump.
Bove cited Adams’ upcoming reelection campaign and his need to assist with Trump’s immigration agenda, a justification that prompted 11 prosecutors in Washington and New York to resign rather than fulfill the order.
(Reporting by Andrew Goudsward in Washington and Nate Raymond in Boston; Editing by Scott Malone and Saad Sayeed)
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