Emil Bove, former defense lawyer of President Donald Trump who took aggressive measures to enforce Trump’s political agenda in the Department of Justice in the first months of his presidency, he told the Senate Judicial Committee: “I am not the henchman of anyone” at a confirmation hearing on Wednesday to consider it for a federal trial.
Last month, Trump took advantage of Bove, who has been helping the Department of Justice, for a trial in the Third Court of Appeals of the United States Circuit.
In his opening statement on Wednesday, Bove vigorously played what he described as “a tremendously inaccurate cartoon” of himself generated by the “conventional media” that has thrown him as a “henchman” of President Trump.
“I am someone who tries to defend what I think is correct, I am not afraid to make difficult decisions. I understand that some of those decisions have generated controversy,” Bove said. “I respect this process, and today I am here to address some of your questions about those decisions, but I want to be clear about a thing in advance: there is a very inaccurate cartoon of me in the main media. I am not anyone’s henchman. I am not an executor.”
The hearing occurs a day after a former DAJ career issued an explosive complaint complaint that accused Bave of allegedly suggesting that the Trump administration should challenge the judicial orders that sought to restrict their aggressive efforts to deport undocumented immigrants earlier this year.
The 27 -page complaint, provided to the Judicial Committee of the Senate and the main guard dog of the Department of Justice and obtained by ABC News, alleges that Bove and other senior officials of the Department of Justice strategic how they could deceive the courts with respect to the efforts of immigration application of the administration and ignore the rules of judges completely.
When heading to the complaint, Bove denied the accusations directly.
Donald Trump’s lawyer Emil Bove, observes how President -elect Donald Trump appears remotely for a sentence hearing in front of the Judge of the State of New York, Juan Merchan in Manhattan, on January 10, 2025 in New York City.
Angela Weiss/Pool through Getty Images
“No, I have never advised the lawyer of the Department of Justice to violate a court order,” Bove said. “Even if that account is taken to the letter, the complainant acknowledges that he left the meeting on March 14 of this year with the understanding that, of course, the department would advise customers to comply with judicial orders.”
Bove also suggested that the issuance of Erez Reuveni’s complaint, a career official for a long time that he was promoted under the first Trump administration for his legal immigration work, was an example of the “unzhined bureaucracy” who sought to frustrate “the unit executive” and “the people who chose the president.”
“What I mean by that is that, throughout this complaint, there is a suggestion that a line lawyer, not even the head of the Immigration Litigation Office, was in a position or considered itself, to link leadership and other cabinet officials,” Bove said. “I don’t remain that line of thought in my management style, and I don’t apologize for that.”
Bove also rejected the accusations that there was some “Quid Pro quo” agreement with the Mayor of New York, Eric Adams, in the decision of the Department of Justice to withdraw federal corruption charges against him in exchange for his support for the application of immigration.
“That is simply false and refuted by, refuted by the record,” Bove said.
Multiple career prosecutors resigned in protest for the movement and described the agreement as a clear ‘Quid Pro quo’. A federal judge finally rejected the request of the department to eliminate the case ‘without prejudice’, which would have left the perspective that they could seek charges against Adams again if they did not continue supporting the administration. In his ruling, dismissing the charges, Judge Dale Ho was deeply skeptical of the Government’s reasons, writing: “Everything here smells like a bargain.”
Adams has denied the accusations and rejected the accusations of a quid quo pro.
The ranking of the judicial member of the Democratic Senate, Senator Dick Durbin, in his opening comments at the Audience on Wednesday, said: “The former personal defense lawyer of President Trump, Mr. Bove has led the effort to assemble the Department of Justice against the president’s enemies. Having won his stripes as loyalist of this president, he has been rewarded with this life nomination for life.”
The judicial president of the Republican Senate, Chuck Grassley, considered Bove as a victim of an “intense opposition campaign” of the Democrats and the media.
“I think this committee owes this nominee a shake and respect right at this audience,” said Grassley. “This is not the first time that this Congress at a nomination hearing in a context of breathless statements that one of President Trump’s nominees is not qualified or not suitable.”
Grassley argued that legislators should seek Bove’s curriculum as federal prosecutor in the United States prosecutor for the Southern District of New York and his time as a judicial employee in the Court of Appeals of the 2nd Circuit, before serving as Trump’s personal lawyer.
“This greater participation worked demands an acute legal trial and a constant resolution,” said Grassley. “Day after day, I was in the trenches putting terrorists and drug traffickers behind bars … In a nutshell, Mr. Bove verifies each box: academic distinction, federal courtship, complex judgment and appeal litigation, leadership of the senior justice. His experience is not only enough, it is very exceptional.”
