Whistleblower’s texts suggest Trump nominee Bove urged lawyer to defy court order

Watch Video Current down whistleblower insists against Trump judicial pick A week before an expected committee vote on the controversial nomination of Trump ally Emil Bove for a federal judgeship CBS News has obtained emails and text messages shared with Congress by a whistleblower who accuses Bove of unethical actions while he was a top Justice Department official this year The messages were circulated Thursday morning by Senate Judiciary Committee Democrats who are trying to defeat Bove s nomination for a judicial appointment to the Third Circuit U S Court of Appeals The text and email messages allegedly offer new insight into the administration s response to its mistaken deportation of Kilmar Abrego Garcia from Maryland to El Salvador on March The whistleblower is former Justice Department attorney Erez Reuveni who was fired April after more than years at the agency when department leadership accused him of presenting an insufficiently vigorous argument on behalf of the Trump administration during Abrego Garcia s court proceedings Last month Reuveni issued a constituents comment opposing the nomination of Bove who is one of Mr Trump s former criminal defense lawyers The text and email messages which were obtained by Democratic leadership on the Senate Judiciary Committee show Reuveni unsuccessfully pressed his colleagues and other federal agencies for assistance in fulfilling a court order that Abrego Garcia be returned to the U S in March Dozens of the email messages also allegedly reveal attempts by Trump administration personnel to label Abrego Garcia a leader of the gang MS- which Abrego Garcia s lawyers have strongly denied and downplay the agency s mistake in removing him to El Salvador A few email exchanges in which Reuveni was a recipient during the week of March included questions about the extent of Abrego Garcia s membership or leadership of MS- and inquired about whether or how the U S could request that El Salvador return Abrego Garcia The messages by Reuveni also warn about the legal peril of ignoring court orders One of the messages in the batch purportedly presented that a homeland guard official conflated Abrego Garcia s alleged MS- membership with membership in Tren de Aragua a different gang based in Venezuela Specific of the text messages from Reuveni included exchanges by Reuveni and a Justice Department colleague in which they refer to alleged instructions from Bove to communicate a f you to the court s order that Abrego Garcia and others be returned from El Salvador to U S custody after the March deportation flights One such exchange between Trump administration functionaries including Justice Department representatives from the night of the March court order to return the deportation flights includes a reference to the alleged f you guidance Text messages between Reuveni and a colleague at the Justice Department The messages are emerging two weeks after Reuveni filed a whistleblower complaint alleging that he was threatened fired and publicly disparaged after questioning instructions from Bove and other personnel to ignore court orders The Justice Department denied the asserts at the time Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche called the charges utterly false referred to Reuveni as a disgruntled former employee and stated at no time did anyone suggest a court order should not be followed Reuveni first drew attention after the Trump administration deported Abrego Garcia to a prison in El Salvador defying a court order barring him from being sent to the Central American country Weeks after the mid-March deportation Reuveni conceded to a Maryland federal judge that Abrego Garcia was deported by mistake and should not have been removed When the judge pressed for details on why the executive couldn t fly Abrego Garcia back Reuveni reported he d demanded the governing body the same question and did not receive an answer Reuveni was hastily put on leave with Attorney General Pam Bondi suggesting he failed to zealously advocate on behalf of the United States Six days later Reuveni says he was fired Abrego Garcia was eventually returned to the U S in June months after a judge ordered his return He is now awaiting trial for criminal smuggling charges and has pleaded not guilty Sen Dick Durbin the top Democrat on the Judiciary Committee declared he sought the text messages and emails Durbin noted Senators raised these assertions at Emil Bove s judicial nomination hearing and he offered only thoroughly wordsmithed responses So I urged for documentation from Mr Reuveni to further substantiate his asserts Text messages email exchanges and documents show that the Department of Justice misled a federal court and disregarded a court order Mr Bove spearheaded this effort which demanded attorneys violate their ethical duty of candor to the court Durbin stated In a declaration Bondi called Reuveni a disgruntled employee and a leaker asserting false alleges seeking five minutes of fame conveniently timed just before a confirmation hearing and a committee vote As Mr Bove testified and as the Department has made clear there was no court order to defy as we successfully argued to the DC Circuit when seeking a stay when they stayed Judge Boasberg s lawless order And no one was ever requested to defy a court order the attorney general declared This is another instance of misinformation being spread to serve a narrative that does not align with the facts This whistleblower signed briefs defending DOJ s position in this matter and his subsequent revisionist account arose only after he was fired because he violated his ethical duties to the department Harrison Fields a White House spokesman declared that Bove is an incredibly talented legal mind and a staunch defender of the U S Constitution who will make an excellent circuit court judge Bove is unquestionably qualified for the role and has a career filled with accolades both academically and throughout his legal career that should make him a shoo-in for the Third Circuit Fields explained in a comment The President is committed to nominating constitutionalists to the bench who will restore law and order and end the weaponization of the justice system and Emil Bove fits that mold perfectly At his Senate confirmation hearing last month Bove denied Reuveni s accusations of any unethical conduct I have never advised a Department of Justice attorney to violate a court order Bove described the Senate Judiciary Committee He added I don t think there s any validity to the suggestion that that whistleblower complaint filed on the previous day calls into question my qualifications to serve as a circuit judge The committee is expected to hold a hearing on Bove s confirmation Thursday according to two congressional sources Source