A whistleblower who leveled explosive allegations against Emil Bove, a top DOJ official who is currently in the middle of a contentious nomination process for a seat on the federal judiciary, has provided additional evidence to bolster his claims to Sen. Dick Durbin, the top Democrat on the Senate Judiciary Committee.
The whistleblower, Erez Reuveni, was previously an immigration litigator at the DOJ under Bove who worked on the high-profile case of Kilmar Armando Abrego Garcia. He has alleged that Bove, who was tapped by President Donald Trump to serve as principal associate deputy attorney general, said in a March meeting that the department would need to consider telling the courts “fuck you,” and ultimately ignore any orders that would halt deportation flights to the notoriously dangerous prison in El Salvador where Abrego Garcia was sent.
Reuveni lost his job at the DOJ, he has alleged, in retaliation for his behavior. After telling a federal judge that the administration erred in deporting Abrego Garcia, Reuveni was placed on administrative leave, and complained internally about how the DOJ was engaging with the court. Reuveni has said he also refused to file a legal document in court that he felt would be untrue.
Bove was nominated by Trump for a judgeship on the Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit in May. During a Senate confirmation hearing in June, Bove was pressed by Democrats about the whistleblower complaints, as well as concerns about his investigations of officials who worked on Jan. 6 cases and his involvement in the decision to drop federal corruption charges against New York City Mayor Eric Adams.
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Bove defended himself strenuously.
“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 said.
The documents obtained by Durbin Thursday include text and email communications between Reuveni and colleagues that appear to align with his claims. They include Reuveni referencing “a decision point on fuck you” while waiting for a court decision, and a message in which he says, “guess we are going to say fuck you to the court.” A colleague replied, “Well, Pamela Jo Bondi is,” adding: “Not you.”
Reuveni also gave an interview to The New York Times Thursday in which he expressed fears about the administration’s increasing lawlessness.
“If they can do this sort of thing to Abrego Garcia, to 238 people that nobody knows, and send them to CECOT forever with no due process, they can do that to anyone,” Reuveni said in an interview with the Times. “It should be deeply, deeply worrisome to anyone who cares about their safety and their liberty, that the government can, without showing evidence to anyone of anything, spirit you away on a plane to wherever, forever.”
Reuveni’s leaks may not be the last to emerge from Bove’s time at the department. Watchdog group American Oversight filed a lawsuit seeking to enforce seven Freedom of Information Act requests which seek communications from department leadership, as well as Reuveni and Bove, discussing the El Salvadoran prison, the Alien Enemies Act or related terms.
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