'Who Won The 2020 Election For President Of The United States?': Welch Grills Judge Nom Emil Bove

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At today's Senate Judiciary Committee hearing, Sen. Peter Welch (D-VT) questioned Emil Bove, nominee to be to be United States Circuit Judge for the Third Circuit, and current Deputy AG.

Transcript

00:00Into the record from 91 former senior Justice Department officials, including 52 former United States attorneys,

00:06they urged the committee to support Mr. Bovey's nomination.

00:10The letter from the U.S. Attorney says, and I'll quote,

00:13Mr. Bovey's professionalism, integrity, medal, and experience,

00:17expertise make him an outstanding candidate to serve as a judge on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit.

00:25And with that, I will turn it over to Senator Welch.

00:30Thank you very much, Madam Chair.

00:32Welcome.

00:34This question of temperament obviously is relevant.

00:37You'd acknowledge that.

00:39Yes, Senator.

00:39Okay.

00:40And you made a comment in response to Senator Booker who's asking you questions,

00:46and I'll ask these as well, that complaints were never made ethically,

00:51and there'd be a responsibility of an attorney to make those ethical complaints under the Judicial Code.

00:57I just have to say I disagree with that.

01:00I mean, I was a defense attorney, worked with many prosecutors, had enormous respect for those prosecutors.

01:06So the temperament issue doesn't always get into the question of whether it's an ethical violation,

01:13but it does get into the temperament and why that, in my view, is very important, whatever our job is,

01:21but particularly for a judge where you've got that incredible power.

01:23So I do want to go through some of these questions that have been raised by that letter that was sent,

01:31making some complaints about you.

01:34You were described as vindictive.

01:36There was references to abuse of power, a refusal to engage in any discussion about the case,

01:45and there was one in particular that stood out to me.

01:49One of the attorneys in a case involving someone who was detained had information that the person had, in fact,

02:01reported as required, and he was trying to provide you with this information

02:08because the hearing about his client's well-being was to take place soon,

02:13and it says that you snippily told me that he would not even try to call the PO,

02:18I assume that's a probation officer, on such short notice after I suggested he could at least try to reach out,

02:25and then you might get lucky and catch him.

02:28Is that true?

02:29No, Senator, it's not true, and that's exactly the type of issue raised in that email

02:34where it's an allegation about an abuse of power that if true...

02:37So you did make the phone call?

02:40No, the whole episode as described in that email is not accurate.

02:45Well, I'm not going to know that, and I'm not sure you do,

02:50but the basic point here is that you could have made a phone call that would have resolved the situation

02:55whether his client had, in fact, reported or had not, and you wouldn't make it.

03:00So you're denying that that's true?

03:03I do deny, and I think the paragraph describes that one of my colleagues stepped in.

03:07All right, let me go on to the next one.

03:10Thank you for giving me your answer.

03:11The prosecutorial misconduct scandal, that is of concern to me and presumably would be of great concern to you

03:18and your job as a prosecutor.

03:21And what the judge found, the errors were so severe that following a jury verdict in its favor,

03:27the government determined that further prosecution of the case would not be in the interest of justice.

03:32I mean, this is a case where there were prosecutorial assets used,

03:36there was a conviction, and then the prosecution had to end it, right?

03:41Right, and I was one of the supervisors who participated in that decision

03:45because I was so disturbed by the violations that had taken place.

03:48But what the judge said, as I understand it, is that you offered little in the way of supervision.

03:55And so as I've said, I respect Judge Nathan's decision.

03:58That aspect of the opinion...

03:59But he said that, right?

04:00It said that, but it was always difficult for me to square that with the fact that

04:03during the operative weekend on both days, I was with the prosecutors.

04:07The record reflects that I spoke to the prosecutors at 10 o'clock on Saturday night,

04:11at 10 o'clock on Sunday night.

04:13So again, I'm not perfect, but I did do my best there.

04:16My best wasn't enough, and I acknowledge that.

04:19But I don't think it's true that I didn't work hard on it.

04:21Let me go on to a third thing.

04:23In 20 and 2021, the Southern District's Executive Committee initiated a formal investigation into your conduct.

04:34And my understanding is that after that happened, that's when you shortly thereafter left the Southern District.

04:41Is that correct?

04:42No.

04:42When did you leave the Southern District?

04:46December of 2021.

04:48December of 2021?

04:50Yes.

04:50Yeah, well, that's shortly after the 2021 investigation.

04:55Have you ever been asked or had to take anger management or behavioral management at the Southern District?

05:02No.

05:03All right.

05:04Who won the 2020 election for President of the United States?

05:11President Biden was certified as the winner of that election.

05:14So you give the standard answer?

05:15You can't say that he won because he got the majority of votes and also got the Electoral College victory?

05:23I think the characterizations that you just made, Senator, are both political,

05:28and so I can't address them under the canons, and they're also tied up in ongoing litigation.

05:31Help me understand how it's political to state who got the most votes in any election.

05:45Senator, I'm just trying to be precise.

05:47The process by which our country declares the victor in an election is a certification process.

05:54President Biden was certified.

05:55Thank you, Senator Welch.

05:56Feel back.

05:58Senator Blackburn.

05:59Thank you, Madam Chairman.

06:00And congratulations on your nomination.

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