A former Justice Department employee has accused department leaders — including one whose Senate confirmation hearing is scheduled a day after the letter is released — of trying to mislead federal judges during the Trump administration’s deportation efforts earlier this year. The Trump administration labeled the whistleblower a “disgruntled employee.”
CNN obtained the letter Erez Reuveni sent to several members of Congress, as well as independent investigators, which states that the Trump administration intended to ignore court orders completely.
Reuveni was a DOJ immigration litigator who lost his job after he said he complained internally about his department’s lack of candor with the court system.
Among those Reuveni accused of attempting to mislead judges is Emil Bove, nominated by President Donald Trump to the 3rd US Circuit Court of Appeals. He has Senate hearings for that role scheduled for Wednesday, June 25.
Reuveni worked on the highly publicized case of a mistakenly deported immigrant, Kilmar Abrego Garcia. According to his letter, Reuveni said Bove told a group in a March meeting that the DOJ “would need to consider telling the courts ‘f**k you’” and ignore orders to stop deporting migrants to El Salvador.
Following the use of an expletive, Reuveni says he and others were quickly ushered out of the room.
Reuveni told a federal judge in Maryland that the administration had mistakenly deported Garcia to El Salvador in March. Reuveni says on April 5, he was...
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