White House Asked Bove About Judgeship After Adams Uproar (2)

The White House approached Emil Bove about his interest in a federal judgeship about a month after he ordered the dismissal of corruption charges against New York Mayor Eric Adams.

The former personal lawyer for Donald Trump said in his Senate Judiciary Questionnaire that the White House reached out to him “in mid-March” about serving on the US Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit.

Roughly a month prior, Bove in his role as acting deputy attorney general ordered Manhattan’s chief federal prosecutor to drop the Adams case, which he said was politically motivated and was hindering the mayor’s cooperation with the president’s immigration agenda.

That move led to resignations from interim Manhattan US Attorney Danielle Sassoon and several other career prosecutors, and attracted ethics complaints from US lawmakers.

If confirmed, Bove would fill the New Jersey vacancy created by Judge Joseph Greenaway Jr.'s retirement in 2023.

According to the Judiciary Committee questionnaire obtained by Bloomberg Law, Bove interviewed with the state’s Democratic senators on May 14 and 15. The lawmakers later called Bove a “polarizing choice” in a joint statement at the time of Trump’s May 28 announcement, and said the “collaborative process” between the Senate and the White House to pick a nominee was “cast aside.”

Kim told Bloomberg Law earlier in June that Bove’s nomination didn’t come as a surprise to them because they knew he was under consideration “but we have not had the chance to be able to interview some of the other names that were out there.”

Circuit nominees no longer require support from their home-state senators to advance, after the Republican-controlled Senate Judiciary Committee eliminated the requirement during Trump’s first term.

Also disclosed in the questionnaire, Bove said that he renewed his New Jersey Bar admission this year after it lapsed in 2022.

Records Requests

In advance of his June 25 hearing on his nomination, Senate Judiciary Democrats have requested a slew of records on Bove’s time working for the Justice Department.

Records related to Bove’s handling of the charges against Adams, and his alleged misconduct while a Manhattan federal prosecutor, are included in the requests sent to the DOJ’s Office of Legal Policy and Manhattan’s interim US attorney.

“The Judiciary Committee deserves real answers on Bove’s brazen misbehavior before he’s considered for a lifetime position on the federal bench,” Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.) said in a Monday statement.

Whitehouse, in a letter dated June 18, requests records related to DOJ’s communications on the alleged brokering of a deal between the mayor, DOJ, and the acting Manhattan US attorney at the time.

Bove in March denied the existence of a quid pro quo arrangement with Adams and defended the dismissal by taking aim at the Manhattan federal prosecutors who brought the case last year. He alleged to lawmakers there was at minimum the appearance of impropriety if not an abuse of the justice process.

Judiciary Committee Democrats in a separate request sought records on Bove’s alleged “unprofessional and unethical conduct” and “vindictive and angry temperament” during his time as a prosecutor in the Southern District of New York between 2012 and 2021 that led to “multiple complaints, professional interventions, and the threat of demotion” during his career there.

In a June 19 letter, the senators ask current interim US attorney Jay Clayton to hand over internal and external complaints, formal and informal against Bove while at the office, and records regarding his “management style and alleged abusive behavior.”

The Democrats gave OLP and Clayton no later than June 23 to release the records.

The Justice Department confirmed that it had received a letter, but offered no additional comment.