Whistleblower Exposes Top DOJ Official’s Plan to Ignore the Courts
Emil Bove, Trump’s former personal lawyer and now a senior official at the DOJ, suggested defying courts that ruled against the Trump administration.

Senior Justice Department official Emil Bove, whom President Donald Trump has nominated for a lifetime appointment on the Third Circuit Court of Appeals, expressed his willingness to ignore court orders in order to speed up the president’s mass deportations, according to a whistleblower report.
The stunning disclosure comes from former Justice Department official Erez Reuveni—who was fired by the Trump administration after acknowledging in court that the deportation of Kilmar Abrego Garcia was an “administrative error.”
Reuveni’s new allegations, which were submitted to Senate and House Judiciary Committee leaders, as well as the U.S. inspector general and acting special counsel, were published by The New York Times on Tuesday.
His account details a meeting with Bove and subordinate officials at the DOJ and officials within the Office of Immigration Litigation on March 14.
According to Reuveni’s complaint, in the meeting, Bove informed those in attendance of Trump’s then-forthcoming proclamation, which would invoke the Alien Enemies Act of 1798 in service of his mass deportation agenda. Planes containing deportees subject to the Alien Enemies Act would take off over the next two days, Bove reportedly said.
Bove reportedly “stressed to all in attendance that planes needed to take off no matter what,” though he also noted “the possibility that a court order would enjoin those removals before they could be effectuated.”
The suggested response? “Bove stated that DOJ would need to consider telling the courts ‘fuck you’ and ignore any such court order,” per Reuveni’s report.
The remark was followed by “stunned” looks and “awkward, nervous glances.”
“Silence overtook the room,” the report says, and “Reuveni and others were quickly ushered out of the room.”
This revelation—which adds to Bove’s record of targeting January 6 investigators and helping drop corruption charges against New York City Mayor Eric Adams—comes a day before he is set to testify before the Senate Judiciary Committee for his nomination to the Third Circuit Court of Appeals.
Democratic Senator Dick Durbin, ranking member of the Judiciary Committee, issued a statement saying the allegations “not only speak to Mr. Bove’s failure to fulfill his ethical obligations as a lawyer, but demonstrate that his activities are part of a broader pattern by President Trump and his allies to undermine the Justice Department’s commitment to the rule of law.”