New Docs Shatter Leftists’ Latest Smears Against Emil Bove

Senate Democrats recently released communications from a Justice Department whistleblower they claim show 3rd Circuit Court nominee Emil Bove instructed a Trump Justice Department official to defy court orders related to the administration’s deportation of Salvadoran national Kilmar Abrego Garcia. New records obtained by The Federalist, however, indicate such assertations aren’t true.

On Thursday, Senate Democrats published messages from Erez Reuveni, a former DOJ attorney who was fired in April “when department leadership accused him of presenting an insufficiently vigorous argument on behalf of the Trump administration during Abrego Garcia’s court proceedings,” according to CBS News. Reuveni went public with his opposition to Bove’s nomination last month, telling lawmakers he was “threatened, fired, and publicly disparaged” by the DOJ over his handling of the matter.

In his article summarizing Reuveni’s communications, CBS News’ Scott MacFarlane wrote, “Some 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 15 deportation flights.”

Senate Judiciary Committee ranking member Dick Durbin, D-Ill., similarly framed the message as an instruction from Bove to ignore any court orders the agency may disagree with on the matter. He claimed that the messages “show that the Department of Justice misled a federal court and disregarded a court order,” and that “Mr. Bove spearheaded this effort.”

Bove denied Reuveni’s allegations during his confirmation hearing last month, telling lawmakers, “I have never advised a Department of Justice attorney to violate a court order.”

The documents obtained by The Federalist contradict claims that Bove instructed DOJ officials to “defy” or “ignore” a court order.

In his April 8 letter addressed to the director of the DOJ’s Human Resources Division, August Flentje (Reuveni’s former supervisor) provided background information on the administration’s deportation of Garcia — a credibly accused wife-beater and MS-13 gang member. In the second paragraph of the document, Flentje made clear that, under instruction from Bove, the DOJ team managing the case was to “avoid” receiving a court order throughout the litigation — not to defy such orders.

“On March 14, 2025, our Alien Enemies Act (AEA) litigation team — including Mr. Reuveni and myself — were called to a meeting with the Deputy Attorney General. We were preparing for an impending AEA proclamation and anticipated fast-moving litigation,” Flentje wrote. “The Principal Associate Deputy Attorney General [Emil Bove] advised our team that we must avoid a court order halting an upcoming operation to implement the Act at all costs. The impact of this meeting on our team cannot be overstated” [emphasis added].

It’s worth noting that this letter was sent to the DOJ’s Human Resources division months before Reuveni went public with his claims against Bove and the Trump DOJ.

During his Senate confirmation hearing, Bove flatly rejected the leftist smear campaign aimed at keeping him off the federal bench. In his opening statement, he proclaimed, “I am someone who tries to stand up for what I believe is right.”

“I’m not afraid to make difficult decisions,” Bove said. “I understand that some of those decisions have generated controversy. … I want to be clear about one thing up front: There is a wildly inaccurate caricature of me in the mainstream media. I am not anybody’s henchman. I’m not an enforcer. I’m a lawyer from a small town who never expected to be in an arena like this.”

Emil Bove Nomination Documents by The Federalist

Shawn Fleetwood is a staff writer for The Federalist and a graduate of the University of Mary Washington. He previously served as a state content writer for Convention of States Action and his work has been featured in numerous outlets, including RealClearPolitics, RealClearHealth, and Conservative Review. Follow him on Twitter @ShawnFleetwood