The United States Senate may approve the appointment of a former Trump defense lawyer to the U.S. Appeals Court. He has no support from Connecticut and New York’s Senators.
Emil Bove, who has defended Trump in multiple criminal cases, currently serves as a top official at the Justice Department.
U.S. Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-CT) has voted against many Trump nominees. He said Bove is uniquely unqualified for a lifetime appointment to the Third Circuit of the U.S. Court of Appeals.
“Mr. Bove is in a different category,” Blumenthal said. “Yes, he is conservative. He's out of the mainstream. But he is corrupt. He's dangerous, vindictive and revengeful, in a way that this administration has made a pattern of doing.”
At least two Republican senators, Susan Collins from Maine and Lisa Murkowski from Alaska, are leaning away from supporting Bove for the position.
At his confirmation hearings, Bove said he’s been inaccurately portrayed as Trump’s henchman at the Justice Department. A whistleblower accused Bove of suggesting that the Trump administration ignore judicial orders, which he denied.
“There is a wildly inaccurate caricature of me in the mainstream media. I am not anybody's henchman. I am not an enforcer. I'm a lawyer from a small town who never expected to be in an arena like this,” Bove said.
The Senate voted to advance Bove’s nomination earlier this week. It is not clear when they will vote again.
