A former Justice Department employee has accused department leaders — including one whose Senate confirmation hearing is scheduled a day after the letter is released — of trying to mislead federal judges during the Trump administration’s deportation efforts earlier this year. The Trump administration labeled the whistleblower a “disgruntled employee.”
CNN obtained the letter Erez Reuveni sent to several members of Congress, as well as independent investigators, which states that the Trump administration intended to ignore court orders completely.
Download the SAN app today to stay up-to-date with Unbiased. Straight Facts™.
Point phone camera here
Whistleblower letter
Reuveni was a DOJ immigration litigator who lost his job after he said he complained internally about his department’s lack of candor with the court system.
Among those Reuveni accused of attempting to mislead judges is Emil Bove, nominated by President Donald Trump to the 3rd US Circuit Court of Appeals. He has Senate hearings for that role scheduled for Wednesday, June 25.
Reuveni worked on the highly publicized case of a mistakenly deported immigrant, Kilmar Abrego Garcia. According to his letter, Reuveni said Bove told a group in a March meeting that the DOJ “would need to consider telling the courts ‘f**k you’” and ignore orders to stop deporting migrants to El Salvador.
Following the use of an expletive, Reuveni says he and others were quickly ushered out of the room.
Fired from the DOJ
Reuveni told a federal judge in Maryland that the administration had mistakenly deported Garcia to El Salvador in March. Reuveni says on April 5, he was placed on administrative leave. Then, on April 11, he was fired.
Before his termination, the letter also states that Reuveni refused orders from leadership to file a brief that misrepresents the facts of the Garcia case to the courts.
The letter says prior to the Garcia case, Reuveni worked at the DOJ for 15 years, and the department had “consistently lauded” his work, including a promotion as recent as March.
Response to the letter
CNN reports Todd Blanche, the deputy attorney general and a longtime colleague of Bove, responded to the letter.
“The complaint describes falsehoods purportedly made by a disgruntled former employee and then leaked to the press in violation of ethical obligations,” Blanche said.
He also reportedly called the claims against Bove false and attacked media reporting on the letter.
Bove hearing
Bove is a former personal attorney to President Trump and has been serving as the principal associate deputy attorney general. Last month, the president nominated him to be a federal appeals court judge.
“Emil is SMART, TOUGH, and respected by everyone. He will end the Weaponization of Justice, restore the Rule of Law, and do anything else that is necessary to, MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN,” the president said on Truth Social while announcing the nomination.
It’s unclear what effect this letter will have on Bove’s nomination and Senate hearings. Sen. Dick Durbin, an Illinois Democrat and ranking member of the Judiciary Committee, said the accusations against Bove are “serious.” “Not only do they speak to his failure to fulfill his ethical obligations as a lawyer, they also demonstrates his part in a broader pattern by the Trump-Bondi DOJ to undermine the rule of law,” he said in a post to X Tuesday.
contributed to this report.