Trump taps ex-personal lawyer for appeals court

What happened

President Donald Trump said Wednesday he will nominate his former criminal defense attorney Emil Bove for a vacant seat on the Philadelphia-based U.S. 3rd District Court of Appeals. Bove, now a senior Trump Justice Department official, represented the president in his New York hush-money case and the two federal cases charging Trump with mishandling classified documents and working to overturn the 2020 election.

Who said what

"Emil is smart, tough" and "will end the weaponization of justice," Trump said on social media. Bove has "been at the center" of some of the Trump Justice Department's "most scrutinized actions," The Associated Press said, including sacking senior FBI officials, ordering the "firings of a group of prosecutors involved in the Jan. 6 criminal cases" and moving "aggressively" to execute Trump's "agenda around immigration."

One of Trump's "closest and most truculent legal allies," Bove has "earned a reputation as an aggressive and often indelicate manager," Politico said, "most notably for his dismantling of the criminal case against New York City Mayor Eric Adams." That "unusual move" led to a "spate of resignations" of senior career prosecutors, The Wall Street Journal said, including the acting U.S. attorney in New York, who "accused Bove of brokering an improper quid pro quo to secure Adams' help with immigration enforcement."

Subscribe to The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Sign up

What next?

Bove "could face a bruising confirmation fight" in the Senate, the Journal said. The 3rd Circuit covers New Jersey, Delaware and Pennsylvania, and New Jersey's two senators, Democrats Cory Booker and Andy Kim, called Bove's nomination "deeply troubling."