Durbin pressed Mr. Bove on his deep involvement with the Justice Department’s decision to drop federal corruption charges against New York City Mayor Eric Adams and his dismissal of dozens of Justice Department prosecutors who worked on cases related to the insurrection at the U.S. Capitol on January 6, 2021
WASHINGTON – U.S. Senate Democratic Whip Dick Durbin (D-IL), Ranking Member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, questioned Emil Bove, nominated to be a United States Circuit Judge for the Third Circuit, during today’s Senate Judiciary Committee judicial nominations hearing. In his opening statement, Durbin outlined how Mr. Bove, a former personal defense attorney of President Trump, is unfit to serve as a federal judge with a lifetime appointment.
Durbin began by asking Mr. Bove about his deep involvement with the Justice Department’s decision to drop federal corruption charges against New York City Mayor Eric Adams.
“Mr. Bove, you were deeply involved with the Justice Department’s decision to drop federal corruption charges against New York City Mayor Eric Adams. You were personally involved in this. Multiple federal prosecutors resigned rather than to dismiss the indictment against Mayor Adams. These individuals made it clear that they believed you had engaged in a quid pro quo with Mayor Adams in order to secure his cooperation with President Trump’s immigration priorities. Following these resignations, you reportedly held a video call with dozens of attorneys in the Justice Department’s Public Integrity Section,” Durbin said. “Mr. Bove, why did you move forward [to dismiss] this case over the objection of the U.S. Attorney’s Office, including the lead prosecutor?”
Mr. Bove claimed, “I made a decision, and the Department made a decision, to proceed with that motion because it was a determination of the senior leadership of the Department that policy reasons made it appropriate to dismiss the charges.”
Durbin followed up by asking Mr. Bove, “In order to get Mayor Adams to cooperate with President Trump’s immigration policy, you were prepared to drop the charges against him?”
Mr. Bove claimed that statement to be “completely false,” despite objective evidence to the contrary.
Durbin responded, “Well, it is not ‘completely false.’ That’s exactly what happened, but the judge foiled your plans with prejudice dismissal of the case. You could no longer have the Mayor on a leash making sure that he follows the President’s immigration policies.”
Durbin then asked Mr. Bove about his dismissal of dozens of Justice Department prosecutors who worked on cases related to the insurrection at the U.S. Capitol on January 6, 2021.
“Mr. Bove, in January 2022, you co-authored an article for Law360 in which you described domestic terrorism as a ‘national security issue.’ You then cited charges brought against attendees of the August 2017 Unite the Right white supremacist rally in Charlottesville and against members of the Proud Boys and the Oath Keepers relating to the January 6 insurrection at the Capitol,”Durbin said. “You described these prosecutions as in the article as ‘[r]ecent examples that illustrate the asymmetry between…international terrorism statutes and the patchwork of narrower laws than can be used to address domestic terrorism.’ Mr. Bove, do you stand by your characterization of the 2017 Unite the Right rally and January 6 domestic terrorism?”
Mr. Bove said, “I stand by what I said in the article.”
“You directed Ed Martin, the failed nominee to serve as U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia, to fire dozens of line prosecutors who had worked on January 6 cases. You also sought the names of thousands of FBI employees who had worked on investigations into January 6 rioters, accused these career public servants of ‘weaponization’ of the FBI against these violent offenders,”Durbin said. “Mr. Bove, did you order the removal of anyone who investigated or prosecuted rioters who assaulted law enforcement officers on January 6?”
In his response, Mr. Bove claimed that “the attorneys that were terminated were on probationary status.”
“Mr. Bove, this doesn’t square with your own words. I have in my hand here the memorandum you prepared on January 31, 2025, to U.S. Attorneys and others in which you made it clear this was about more than provisional employees being dismissed. Let me read what you wrote: ‘In an executive order issued on January 20, 2025, President Trump appropriately characterized the work as having involved a grave national injustice that’s been perpetrated upon the American people over the last four years.’ This is not about provisional employees, it’s about January 6 prosecutions. You call it a ‘domestic terrorism event’ in this article that you have written. Most of us who lived through this ordeal understand it was such a domestic terrorist event. And now you’re trying to have it both ways. You’re saying you dismiss the people who prosecuted those who beat up on our law enforcement officers and that it had nothing to do with January 6. Your words defy that.”
Mr. Bove claimed that both things can be true.
Durbin continued, “These people [career DOJ attorneys] paid for your strategy with their careers. They lost their jobs in the Department of Justice and in the FBI because you identified them as being involved in January 6 prosecutions. You cannot call on one hand, the prosecution as a ‘grave injustice,’ as you did in your own memo here, and then on the other hand, tell me how seriously you feel about people assaulting police officers.”
Durbin concluded by asking Mr. Bove, “Do you support President Trump’s full and unconditional pardon of January 6 rioters who violently assaulted law enforcement officers?”
Mr. Bove avoided answering the question directly.
Video of Durbin’s questions of Mr. Bove in Committee is available here.
Audio of Durbin’s questions of Mr. Bove in Committee is available here.
Footage of Durbin’s questions of Mr. Bove in Committee is available here for TV Stations.
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