Internal DOJ messages bolster claim that Trump judicial nominee spoke of defying court orders
A fired Justice Department attorney has provided Congress with a trove of emails and text messages to corroborate his claims that a controversial Trump judicial nominee — top DOJ official Emil Bove — crudely discussed defying court orders.
The newly-released messages reinforce claims by whistleblower Erez Reuveni that Bove played a key role in a decision by Trump administration immigration officials to turn scores of Venezuelan immigrants over to El Salvador’s government despite a U.S. judge’s order not to do so.
The messages show increasing alarm among Justice Department lawyers that the administration had in fact defied court orders and that some officials — including a prominent DOJ lawyer brought on by the Trump administration — could face sanctions for misleading the courts.
Bove has said that he never advised anyone to violate court orders. DOJ and the Department of Homeland Security did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
The disclosures to the Senate Judiciary Committee, requested by the panel’s Democrats and shared with POLITICO, come as the committee prepares to vote on and likely advance Bove’s nomination to a seat on the Philadelphia-based 3rd Circuit Court of Appeals. Bove’s brief but rocky tenure at the Justice Department appears unlikely to derail his nomination, particularly after Sen. Thom Tillis (R-N.C.), a key vote on the panel, suggested Wednesday he was likely to back Trump’s pick.
But the new documents offer a rare glimpse inside sensitive decision-making moments that have defined the administration’s fraught relationship with the courts. And they show that Bove — who has faced scrutiny for his role in unraveling the prosecution of New York City Mayor Eric Adams and firing DOJ officials involved in the prosecution of Jan. 6 defendants — has been at the center of nearly every explosive legal battle of Trump’s second term so far.
Bove served as a top defense attorney for Trump as he fought against multiple criminal cases last year. When Trump was elected, he tapped Bove to be the principal associate deputy attorney general.
Reuveni was a career lawyer at DOJ until he was fired this spring after he told a judge that the administration had mistakenly deported an immigrant in violation of a court order. Then, last month, Reuveni sent a 27-page whistleblower letter to the Judiciary Committee accusing Bove of saying that DOJ may need to rebuff court orders that might hinder Trump’s deportation agenda. According to Reuveni, Bove told colleagues that they might have to consider telling the courts “fuck you.”
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