Emil Bove, President Donald Trump’s former defense attorney who took aggressive steps to enforce Trump’s political agenda at the Justice Department in the early months of his presidency, told the Senate Judiciary Committee, “I’m not anybody’s henchman” at a confirmation hearing Wednesday to consider him for a federal judgeship.
Trump last month tapped Bove, who has been helping lead the Justice Department, for a judgeship on the 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.
In his opening statement Wednesday, Bove vigorously disputed what he described as “a wildly inaccurate caricature” of himself generated by the “mainstream media” which has cast him as a “henchman” of President Trump.
“I am someone who tries to stand up for what I believe is right, I’m not afraid to make difficult decisions — I understand that some of those decisions have generated controversy,” Bove said. “I respect this process, and I’m here today to address some of your questions about those decisions, but I want to be clear about one thing up front: There is a wildly inaccurate caricature of me in the mainstream media. I’m not anybody’s henchman. I’m not an enforcer.”
The hearing comes one day after a former top DOJ career official issued an explosive whistleblower complaint accusing Bove of allegedly suggesting the Trump administration should defy judicial orders that sought to restrict their aggressive efforts to deport undocumented immigrants earlier this year.
The 27-page complaint, provided to the Senate Judiciary Committee and the Justice Department’s top watchdog and obtained by ABC News, alleges that Bove and other top DOJ officials strategized how they could mislead courts regarding the administration’s immigration enforcement efforts and potentially ignore judges’ rulings outright.
Addressing the complaint, Bove denied the allegations outright.
Donald Trump attorney Emil Bove watches as President-elect Donald Trump appears remotely for a sentencing hearing in front of New York State Judge Juan Merchan at Manhattan Criminal Court, Jan. 10, 2025 in New York City.
Angela Weiss/Pool via Getty Images
“No, I have never advised the Department of Justice attorney to violate a court order,” Bove said. “Even if that account is taken at face value, the whistleblower acknowledges that he left the meeting on March 14 of this year with the understanding that, of course, the department would advise clients to abide by court orders.”
Bove also suggested the issuance of the complaint by Erez Reuveni, a longtime career official who was promoted under the first Trump Administration for his immigration legal work, was an example of the “unelected bureaucracy” seeking to thwart “the unitary executive” and “the people that elected the president.”
“What I mean by that is, throughout this complaint, there’s a suggestion that a line attorney, not even the head of the Office of immigration litigation, was in a position or considered himself to be, to bind the department’s leadership and other Cabinet officials,” Bove said. “I don’t abide that line thinking in my management style, and I’m not apologetic of that.”
Bove also rejected allegations that there was any “quid pro quo” deal with New York Mayor Eric Adams in the DOJ’s decision to drop federal corruption charges against him in exchange for his support on immigration enforcement.
“That’s simply false and it’s refuted by — refuted by the record,” Bove said.
Multiple career prosecutors resigned in protest over the move and described the arrangement as a clear ‘quid pro quo.’ A federal judge ultimately rejected the department’s request to drop the case ‘without prejudice’ — which would have left the prospect they could seek charges against Adams again if he did not continue supporting the administration. In his ruling dismissing the charges, Judge Dale Ho was deeply skeptical of the government’s motives, writing, “Everything here smacks of a bargain.”
Adams has denied the allegations and has pushed back on accusations of a quid quo pro.
Ranking Democratic Senate Judiciary member Sen. Dick Durbin, in his opening remarks at Wednesday’s hearing, said, “The former personal defense attorney of President Trump, Mr. Bove has led the effort to weaponize the Department of Justice against the president’s enemies. Having earned his stripes as a loyalist to this President, he’s been rewarded with this lifetime nomination.”
Republican Senate Judiciary Chairman Chuck Grassley cast Bove as a victim of an “intense opposition campaign” by Democrats and the media.
“I think that this committee owes this nominee a fair shake and respect at this hearing,” Grassley said. “This is hardly the first time this Congress that we’ve come into a nomination hearing against a backdrop of breathless claims that one of President Trump’s nominees is uniquely unqualified or unfit.”
Grassley argued that lawmakers should instead look to Bove’s resume as a federal prosecutor in the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York and his time as a judicial clerk on the 2nd Circuit Court of Appeals, prior to serving as Trump’s personal attorney.
“This high stakes worked demands sharp legal judgment and steady resolve,” Grassley said. “Day in and day out, he was in the trenches putting terrorists and drug traffickers behind bars … Put very simply, Mr. Bove checks every box — academic distinction, federal courtships, complex trial and appellate litigation, senior Justice Department leadership. His experience isn’t just sufficient, it is very exceptional.”
