The members of President Donald Trump’s cabinet are a motley crew of followers, many of whom are utterly unfit, but they all understand their job: to act as bobbleheads who follow orders. He was given flexibility since he is filling positions on his own team, the executive branch, which is unfortunate and dangerous.
However, he is currently attempting to appoint Emil Bove, a fierce loyalist, to the Philadelphia Court of Appeals, which is one level below the Supreme Court. His team isn’t that. There is no place for a bobblehead on that branch.
Even Trump is bragging that his guy Bove is a cheerleader, even though a judge is meant to be a referee.
Trump said on social media that he would stop at nothing to “MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN.” Emil Bove will always be there for you.
LISTEN TO THE RECORD
Trump isn’t speculating on it. He is examining Bove’s prosecutorial record, which consistently demonstrates a contempt for the rule of law.
This man oversaw the firing of federal prosecutors and FBI agents involved in the prosecution of the January 6 rioters, including the 169 rioters found guilty of attacking police officers on that day by dragging them from their defensive positions and beating them with fire extinguishers, steel rods, fists, and feet.
The prosecution, according to Bove, is a serious national injustice.
Sen. Cory Booker (D) of New Jersey said that’s targeting folks who were simply carrying out their duties. He claims that those who severely beat police officers were their targets. And it’s not simply wrong to use violence against the cops. It encourages a reprehensible degree of lawlessness.
JUSTICE OVER POLITICS
Bove is also the person who ordered the dismissal of corruption charges against New York Mayor Eric Adams, although acknowledging that the decision was made only for political reasons and not based on the law or the facts. Bove was satisfied that Adams was prepared to assist with Trump’s deportations.
Danielle Sassoon, the U.S. Attorney in charge of the case and a Trump nominee who resigned in protest rather than sign the order, found that to be too much. In his resignation letter to Bove, one of her deputies, Hagan Scotten, a combat veteran, also resigned, saying, “I expect you will find someone who is enough of a fool, or enough of a coward, to file your motion.” However, that would never be me.
INTENTIONAL DECEPTION
Unbelievably, that is hardly the worst of it. When a member of Bove’s own team at the Department of Justice took us behind closed doors in late June, he disclosed the most disturbing evidence against him: Bove was talking about the deportation of Kilmar Abrego Garcia, an undocumented immigrant from Maryland who had been wrongfully imprisoned in El Salvador.
What if the courts decide to stop the deportations? That is the question at hand.
According to Erez Reuveni, the whistleblower, Bove said that DOJ should think about telling the courts to screw off and disregarding its directives. Additionally, he claims that during deportation proceedings, Bove purposefully mislead federal judges.
Put the train to a stop. Set off the alarm.
That should be disqualifying in and of itself, according to Booker.
As he must, Bove rejects Reuveni’s claim, but the narrative aligns well with the numerous instances in which Bove has demonstrated contempt for the rule of law. Furthermore, why would Reuveni fabricate this and ruin his own career? This man has repeatedly supported Trump’s deportations in court.
RISK OF PERMANENT DAMAGE
Since this is regarded as a New Jersey seat on the Third Circuit, Sen. Andy Kim (D) of New Jersey, who met with Bove in March, says the nomination is risky. He might do harm long after Trump’s second term is over… Mr. Bove is the most unqualified person I can conceive of to serve as a federal judge.
More corruption, more lies, and a greater contempt for the rule of law can be found if you go into Bove’s past before he joined Trump in Washington. As an assistant prosecutor in the Southern District of New York in 2018, Bove oversaw a section that brought charges against Ali Sadr Hashemi Nejad, a banker who was suspected of breaking U.S. sanctions on Iran.
However, a court determined that Bove’s team had violated a fundamental rule of prosecutorial ethics by withholding information from the defense, leading to the charges being dropped. District Judge Alison Nathan found in a scathing decision that Bove’s team purposefully misled the defense.
She requested all Southern District prosecutors and assistants to read her 42-page ruling because Nathan was so horrified. The highest levels of leadership in the US attorney’s office for the Southern District of New York must respond in a coordinated and systemic manner to the numerous issues that have surfaced during this prosecution and that may have gone unnoticed in countless others, she wrote.
Will Bove be confirmed? If the Judiciary Committee’s June 25 hearing on Bove’s candidacy is any indication, Bove will be approved on a party line vote when it votes on Thursday. Kim and Booker are also pessimistic about the floor vote and believe Trump would next name Bove for a Supreme Court vacancy.
“I’m very concerned,” Kim admits. It is obvious that his goal is to protect Trump at all costs.
to support Trump. The Constitution, no. Not the law. However, one man’s effort to undermine our democracy appears to be proceeding according to plan.
Moran was the editorial page editor and columnist for The Star-Ledger of Newark, New Jersey, before joining Advance Local as a national political columnist. His email address is [email protected].
