July 30 (UPI) -- The U.S. Senate on Tuesday narrowly approved Emil Bove, who served as President Donald Trump's personal defense attorney, for a lifetime judicial appointment despite facing multiple whistleblower complaints.
Bove was confirmed as a judge on the Philadelphia-based Third Circuit Court of Appeals on a 50-49 vote, with Republican Sens. Lisa Murkowski and Susan Collins voting with Democrats against him. Republican Sen. Bill Hagerty of Tennessee was absent.
The vote follows one of the most heated sets of Senate hearings on any of Trump's judicial nominees. Three whistleblowers alleged that Bove, a high-ranking Justice Department official, misled lawyers and pressed career prosecutors to ignore court orders to advance Trump's political goals. Bove has denied the allegations, calling them "partisan attacks."
Sen. Dick Durbin, the ranking Democrat on the Senate Judiciary Committee, said in an X post that Bove was "a terrible choice for the federal bench."
"Mr. Bove's primary qualification appears to be his blind loyalty to this president," Durbin wrote.
Sen. Chuck Grassley, the Republican chair of the committee, responded during a floor speech saying Democrats' attacks on Bove were unfair and he saw no evidence of misconduct.
"Since the very beginning of this Congress, Democrats have engaged in a relentless obstruction campaign for nearly every one of President Trump's nominees," he said.
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