Documents Implicate Emil Bove in Criminal Contempt
By Tom Joscelyn and Ryan Goodman
Published on July 11, 2025
A whistleblower’s documents provided to Congress implicate Emil Bove in the administration’s violation of a court order that prohibited the transfer of more than 100 Venezuelans to El Salvador’s CECOT prison. Bove is President Donald Trump’s nominee to serve as a judge on the Third Circuit Court of Appeals, and the Senate Judiciary Committee is scheduled to vote on his nomination on July 17.
In April, Chief Judge James Boasberg held there is probable cause that administration officials engaged in criminal contempt by having “willfully disobeyed a binding judicial decree.” Bove is identified in the whistleblower’s documents as having played a central role in the conduct of concern. The documents also provide evidence that Bove has seriously misled Congress about his conduct.
The whistleblower is Erez Reuveni, who was a career Department of Justice (DOJ) attorney for nearly 15 years until he was dismissed in April of this year. The documents he has produced to the Senate Judiciary Committee, including emails and text messages, concern the Trump administration’s controversial decision to transfer Venezuelan nationals to El Salvador on Mar. 15 under the purported authority of the Alien Enemies Act (AEA). The cache of documents, which was first reported by Politico, is important for the following four reasons.
First, newly released text messages confirm Reuveni’s previous allegation that Bove told others in the DOJ that the administration should consider telling the courts “fuck you” should judges seek to enjoin the deportations. Newly released text messages between Reuveni and his colleagues, including his direct supervisor, August Flentje, show them apparently referencing Bove’s suggestion ...
https://www.justsecurity.org/116777/bove-criminal-contempt-boasberg/
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