DOJ Lawyer Emil Bove Refuses To Rule Out third Trump Term: Report

Emil Bove, an embattled senior Justice Department official who represented President Donald Trump at his New York hush money trial, has reportedly not ruled out a third presidential term for his boss, CBS News reported Friday.

Bove, currently associate deputy U.S. attorney general, is under consideration for a lifetime judgeship on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 3rd Circuit.

The Senate Judiciary Committee is expected to vote Thursday on whether to advance the nomination to the full chamber for approval. To aid the committee members in their decision, Bove recently provided his responses to written questions from the group totaling some 165 pages, per CBS News.

Trump’s former attorney was asked at several points for his stance on whether it would be permissible for Trump to run for a third term, even though the 22nd Amendment explicitly prohibits third-term presidents.

“As a nominee to the Third Circuit, it would not be appropriate for me to address how this Amendment would apply in an abstract hypothetical scenario,” Bove responded, according to CBS News.

“To the extent this question seeks to elicit an answer that could be taken as opining on the broader political or policy debate regarding term limits, or on statements by any political figure, my response, consistent with the positions of prior judicial nominees, is that it would be improper to offer any such comment as a judicial nominee,” he said.

The 22nd Amendment reads: “No person shall be elected to the office of the President more than twice.”

Bove has been under scrutiny in recent weeks ever since a Justice Department whistleblower said he has been leading an effort to mislead federal judges and undermine their direct orders.

The whistleblower, former DOJ attorney Erez Reuveni, alleged that Bove told lawyers like himself to say “fuck you” to federal judges who ruled against the Trump administration. Reuveni was fired in April after admitting in court that the administration deported Maryland immigrant Kilmar Abrego Garcia in error.

Bove formerly served in the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York until late 2021. Last summer, he was part of a team that represented Trump in a personal capacity as he was tried and ultimately found guilty on 34 New York state felony counts.

In his responses to the senators, Bove reportedly did not recall which cases relating to the Jan. 6, 2021, attempted insurrection he had worked on as a prosecutor for the Southern District of New York.

Asked whether he wished to denounce the violent events of Jan. 6, Bove reportedly declined, saying the incident “is a matter of significant political debate.”

HuffPost reached out to the Justice Department for comment from Bove.