Top Justice Department official Emil Bove, who has been nominated for the federal appeals bench, testified before the Senate Wednesday that he never told department attorneys to ignore court orders, denying the account of a whistleblower.
Bove, a former criminal defense attorney who represented President Trump, rejected suggestions by Democrats that the claims of whistleblower, former Justice Department attorney Erez Reuveni, render him unfit to serve on the appeals court. His nomination has come under scrutiny after Reuveni said in a complaint made public Tuesday that in one meeting, Bove had used an expletive when saying the Trump administration might need to ignore judicial commands.
"I have never advised a Department of Justice attorney to violate a court order," Bove told the Senate Judiciary Committee. He added, "I don't think there's any validity to the suggestion that that whistleblower complaint filed yesterday calls into question my qualifications to serve as a circuit judge."
Bove was nominated last month by Mr. Trump to the 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, which hears cases from Delaware, New Jersey and Pennsylvania. A former federal prosecutor in the Southern District of New York, Bove was on Mr. Trump's defense team for his New York hush money trial and defended him in the two federal criminal cases brought by the Justice Department.
The White House said Bove "is unquestionably qualified for the role and has a career filled with accolades, both academically...
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