Senate considering nomination of ex-Trump defense lawyer for lifetime appointment to appeals court
By MARY CLARE JALONICK WASHINGTON AP The Senate narrowly voted on Tuesday to begin considering the nomination of former Trump lawyer Emil Bove for a lifetime appointment as a federal appeals court judge with at least one Republican opposed and Democrats vowing to try to slow his confirmation Related Articles Pam Bondi says judge-picked New Jersey prosecutor succeeding Alina Habba has been removed What s happening with forgiveness for trainee loans on income-based repayment plans Trump rehashes years-old grievances on Russia probe after new intelligence summary Contributors flock to immigration courts to help settlers arrested in the hallways Thousands of Afghans face manageable deportation after court refuses to extend their legal protection Bove a former criminal defense lawyer for President Donald Trump is now a top official at the Justice Department His nomination for the rd U S Circuit Court of Appeals has come under intense scrutiny from Democrats after a fired department lawyer stated he suggested the Trump administration may need to ignore judicial commands a claim Bove denies He was at the forefront of the department s dismissed corruption situation against New York City Mayor Eric Adams He has also accused FBI officers of insubordination for refusing to hand over the names of agents who investigated the attack on the U S Capitol and ordered the firings of a group of prosecutors involved in those Jan criminal cases The - vote came after Democrats forced an additional procedural vote on his nomination an effort to protest the nomination and delay the process Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer called Bove the extreme of the extreme of the extreme and Trump s worst judicial nominee to date Mr Bove s entire career has been built on one thing fealty to Donald Trump Schumer stated NEW YORK NEW YORK MAY Former U S President Donald Trump appears in court with attorney Emil Bove L during his trial for allegedly covering up hush money payments at Manhattan Criminal Court on May in New York City Former U S President Donald Trump faces felony counts of falsifying business records in the first of his criminal cases to go to trial Photo by Dave Sanders-Pool Getty Images Alaska Sen Lisa Murkowski was the only Republican to vote against moving to consider the nomination signaling that Republicans will have the votes to confirm Bove by the end of the week Sen Susan Collins R-Maine voted to move forward but has not disclosed whether she will endorsement Bove s confirmation The tension and delays over Bove s nomination come as Republicans have tried to move Trump s nominees as promptly as doable and as Trump has pushed Senate Majority Leader John Thune to skip the traditional August recess to stay in session and confirm more judges and executive branch representatives Thune reported he is considering doing that if Democrats continue to force delays and Democrats have shown little signs of letting up At his confirmation hearing earlier this month Bove took criticism of his tenure head-on telling lawmakers he understands certain of his decisions have generated conflict But Bove explained he has been inaccurately portrayed as Trump s henchman and enforcer at the department I am someone who tries to stand up for what I believe is right Bove commented Illinois Sen Dick Durbin the top Democrat on the panel declared Bove has used his position to weaponize the Department of Justice against the president s enemies Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley R-Iowa defended Bove against the whistleblower s proposes and noted he deserves fair medicine He mentioned Democrats withheld the complaint from the fired lawyer and that his staff had investigated the declares Mr Bove has a strong legal background and has served his country honorably Grassley noted at a Senate Judiciary meeting last week where Democrats walked out in protest The whistleblower complaint came from a former Justice Department lawyer 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 That lawyer Erez Reuveni described efforts by top Justice Department leaders in the weeks before his firing to stonewall and mislead judges to carry out deportations championed by the White House 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 explained Bove raised the possibility that a court might block the deportations before they could happen Reuveni states 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 explained in the filing Bove revealed he has no recollection of saying anything of that kind A former federal prosecutor in the Southern District of New York Bove was on Trump s legal group during his New York hush money trial and defended Trump in the two federal criminal cases brought by the Justice Department If authenticated by the Senate he ll serve on the rd U S Circuit Court of Appeals which hears cases from Delaware New Jersey and Pennsylvania
