Democrats on the Senate Judiciary Committee stormed out of a meeting Thursday morning where they were set to vote on President Donald Trump’s Court of Appeals nominee Emil Bove.
The president tapped his personal attorney-turned-Justice-Department-official for a lifetime appointment on the U.S. 3rd Circuit Court of Appeals, but the nomination has faced pushback from Democrats and legal experts who argued he is unfit to serve on the federal bench.
Democrats called on the committee to hear from a whistleblower who accused Bove of telling government lawyers earlier this year that they may need to disobey court orders as the Trump administration fought the legal system over the president’s agenda.
Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley rejected the request ahead of the vote on Thursday leading to a dramatic showdown on Capitol Hill and Democrats walking out.
Sen. Cory Booker accused Grassley of not follow the rules of his own committee and breaking precedent during the meeting.
“This is outrageous that you’re not allowing senators to have their fair say before a controversial nominee is being done,” Booker yelled at his GOP colleague as Grassley tried to proceed to a vote. “This is unbelievable. This is unjust. This is wrong. It is the further deterioration of this committee’s integrity.”
“With a person like this, what are you afraid of?” Booker confronted Grassley who denied some Democratic senators time to speak. “What is the fear here?”
As Booker spoke, his Democratic colleagues began to exit the room.
“Sir, this is just wrong in every way. It is wrong in every single way. This is an abuse of power. It is an undermining of the wellbeing and the integrity of this Senate and this committee,” Booker said as he made is departure. “This is a sham, this is wrong. You are better than this.”
Republicans went on to vote to advance Bove’s nomination. All 12 GOP members of the committee voted in support, but Democrats are disputing the validity of the vote and have gone to the Senate parliamentarian for a ruling.
Bove, who represented Trump in his New York fraud case last year before joining his administration as associate deputy attorney general, has been criticized not just by Democrats but career DOJ officials and former judges.
Ahead of his confirmation hearing last month a former career Justice Department lawyer filed a whistleblower complaint in which he accused Bove of suggesting at a March meeting that DOJ lawyers defy the courts and tell them “f–k you” in response to court orders.
Democrats called for a hearing with the whistleblower Erez Reuveni, who worked at the Justice Department for nearly 15 years before his termination, but it was rejected by Senate Republicans.
Reuveni was fired from the department in April after he admitted in federal court to a judge that the government had mistakenly deported Kilmar Abrego Garcia to El Salvador.
Bove said he did not recall making the suggestion when grilled by Democrats at his confirmation hearing on June 25.
He later refused to rule out supporting a third presidential term for Trump in a Senate questionnaire, despite the 22nd Amendment barring it.
In a letter to members of the Senate Judiciary Committee on Wednesday, 900 former Justice Department employees sounded alarms over Bove’s appointment. They accused him of trampling institutional norms and lacking impartiality necessary for the post.
On Tuesday, 75 former federal and state judges including those appointed by Republicans and Democrats came out against his nomination.
“Mr. Bove’s egregious record of misleading law enforcement officers, abusing power and disregarding the law itself disqualifies him for this position,” they wrote.
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