Before vote, Dems seek answers from DOJ inspector general on Emil Bove whistleblower reports

WASHINGTON (CN) — As President Donald Trump’s nominee for a key appellate court vacancy gears up to face a Senate confirmation vote this week, Democrats are urging the Justice Department’s independent inspector general to disclose any investigation his office may be conducting into the nominee.

Senate Democrats are raising concerns after whistleblowers alleged that Third Circuit nominee Emil Bove suggested the Justice Department could ignore a lawful court order while serving as the agency’s acting No. 2 official. At least one whistleblower reportedly stated Bove misled lawmakers during his Senate Judiciary Committee confirmation hearing last month.

In a Monday letter to acting Justice Department inspector general William Blier, New Jersey Senator Cory Booker and California Senator Adam Schiff cited the “new and troubling” claims and asked whether his office has launched an investigation into Bove.

“Each of these allegations are alarming,” wrote Booker and Schiff. “Taken together, they paint a picture that Mr. Bove likely violated laws and Department regulations, and abused his authority while acting as one of the Department’s most senior officials.”

Before Bove’s June Judiciary Committee hearing, former Justice Department attorney Erez Reuveni alleged that Bove, while acting deputy attorney general, suggested defying a federal court order to enable mass deportations of Venezuelan migrants. Reuveni said Bove told colleagues in March the Justice Department might need to tell a federal judge “fuck you” to proceed.

The whistleblower also stated that Bove advised Homeland Security to deplane a deportation flight in El Salvador, despite a court order requiring such flights to return. Bove denied at the hearing that he had advised anyone to defy a judge.

Republicans and the Justice Department have dismissed Reuveni’s claims as baseless, calling him a disgruntled ex-employee. Reuveni, fired in April, says he was let go after acknowledging to a judge that the Trump administration mistakenly deported Maryland resident Kilmar Abrego Garcia.

As the Senate prepares to vote on Bove’s nomination, two anonymous whistleblowers have reportedly come forward to support Reuveni’s account. One provided documentation that, according to the Washington Post, “contradicts claims” Bove made at his June hearing.

“As the Senate approaches a final vote this week on Mr. Bove’s nomination to serve as United States Circuit Judge for the Third Circuit, it is imperative that Senators exercise their constitutional duty of advice and consent with full knowledge of Mr. Bove’s actions,” Booker and Schiff told the Justice Department inspector general.

The lawmakers added that, if the inspector general had not yet opened a probe into Bove, it should undertake a “thorough review” of the whistleblower disclosures and Bove’s actions.

Senate Republicans, including Iowa Senator Chuck Grassley, who chairs the Judiciary Committee, have framed the whistleblower complaints about Bove as partisan smears and questioned their veracity. But Democrats have argued that claims the nominee was open to ignoring lawful court orders should disqualify him from the federal bench.

Most vocal among Bove’s Democratic critics has been Booker, whose state would be under the nominee’s jurisdiction as a Third Circuit judge. The Garden State senator filibustered the Judiciary Committee vote to advance Bove earlier this month, accusing Republicans of “supplicating themselves” to Trump as the panel’s Democratic lawmakers walked out of the committee room in protest.

Booker called on his GOP colleagues during a Judiciary Committee meeting last week to do away with a “climate of fear and intimidation,” which he argued prevented lawmakers from debating controversial nominees.

Meanwhile, the Senate could vote as soon as Tuesday to confirm Bove to the appellate bench. Barring any major Republican defections, the nominee will likely be confirmed — the upper chamber’s GOP majority can afford to lose three votes and would still have Vice President JD Vance available to break a tie.

Only two Republicans, Maine Senator Susan Collins and Alaska Senator Lisa Murkowski, are likely to oppose Bove’s nomination.

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