Senate Democrat: Emil Bove ‘genuinely bad guy’
Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.) condemned Tuesday confirmation of controversial nominee Emil Bove to serve as a judge on the Third Circuit Court of Appeals, after a series of whistleblowers accused him of a history of malfeasance.
“This is a genuinely bad guy,” Whitehouse said late Tuesday in an appearance on MSNBC’s “The Briefing.”
“He was in the Department of Justice for all of six months and managed to rack up three separate, significant episodes of prosecutorial misconduct,” he told host Jen Psaki, adding, “I mean, most prosecutors go a lifetime without doing that.”
Bove has been the subject of three different complaints in recent weeks. Two alleged he encouraged others to violate court orders, and another accused him of misleading Congress on the Justice Department’s (DOJ) dropping of bribery charges against New York City Mayor Eric Adams (D).
“This was like big deal, first principles violated, real problems. A fake criminal investigation, dangling another investigation over the head of an elected official to try to get him to comply on policy stuff, and then the famous, ‘You know, you got to be ready to tell the courts F you if they disagree with Trump,’” Whitehouse said, referring to a whistleblower report alleging Bove used expletives to direct DOJ employees not to comply with court orders.
“And then, aside from those three prosecutorial misconduct episodes, he wouldn’t say a word about what he did with the Epstein files during all those months when he was their prime custodian,” the Rhode Island senator added.
Many of his Democratic colleagues agreed and were outraged after Bove’s confirmation succeeded in a vote along party lines. Republican Sens. Lisa Murkowski (Alaska) and Susan Collins (Maine) voted against his appointment.
“They reward a man, credibly accused of wanting to lie to judges, with a black robe and gavel of his own,” Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) said on the floor after the vote.
“And they’re confirming him for one reason only: Mr. Bove is loyal to Donald Trump, therefore Donald Trump wants him on the bench,” he continued. “The calculus is as simple as that.”
Sen. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) said in a post online ahead of the vote that the confirmation process was rushed to prevent any additional reports of Bove’s misconduct from being unveiled. He also blasted his GOP colleagues after his confirmation.
“Republicans just voted to confirm Emil Bove. Despite whistleblowers confirming he urged them to ignore court orders,” he wrote later Tuesday on social platform X. “Despite it being clear he lied to the Judiciary Committee. And despite the danger he poses to the rule of law. The corruption of the bench continues.”
More than 900 former DOJ attorneys had also urged the Senate to reject Bove’s nomination to the lifetime judicial appointment.