'The Claims In That Email Are False': Emil Bove Fires Back At Cory Booker

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During a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing last week, Sen. Katie Britt (R-AL) gave Emil Bove, one of President Trump's judicial nominees, time to respond to accusations that he had violated ethics codes brought up earlier in the hearing by Sen. Cory Booker (D-NJ).

Transcript

00:00doing this job in which you're nominated for. Thank you, Madam Chair.

00:05Mr. Brevet, thank you so much for being here today. Thank you for your willingness to serve,

00:09and congratulations on your nomination. I heard you in the last exchange say I wish I had an

00:13opportunity to respond. I'd like to give you that opportunity. When we've heard a number of my

00:18colleagues levy attacks, what I believe in many cases to be false claims, I'd like to just turn

00:24the mic over to you for a second and give you an opportunity to respond. Thank you, Senator. I

00:29appreciate that. With respect to the 2018 email referenced by Senator Booker, that email contains

00:37a series of wildly inaccurate claims about me. I categorically reject any claim of unethical or

00:47improper behavior by me, period. You know that the claims in that email are false for two reasons.

00:54First, I got that job. I received the promotion the next time the seat was open. Second,

01:03attorneys leveling ethics obligations like that have their own ethical duties under Rule 8.3 of

01:09the New York Rules to report those things if they take them seriously, if they believe them to be true.

01:15That never happened. Those attorneys who leveled those claims, which were false, also had obligations

01:23to their clients, obligations to advocate zealously on behalf of people that I was prosecuting. That was

01:30the role of those lawyers in the criminal justice system, a role that I respect. So if they believed

01:35the things in that email to be true, they would have been under an obligation to file motions in the

01:40courts where those proceedings were taking place. I'm not aware of any such motion. And I'm certainly not aware of any

01:46relief granted with respect to the types of claims in that email. More generally, if I'm fortunate enough to be

01:54confirmed, I understand that there are questions about what kind of temperament that I would have as a judge.

02:00I think I would be tough, but fair. Litigants and colleagues would feel respected by me.

02:08They would understand that I take the job very seriously and that I work very hard at it.

02:13And I don't think that there needs to be a lot of guesswork about why that's true.

02:18I've appeared in court regularly and frequently since 2012. I've participated in 12 criminal trials.

02:26I've argued 10 appeals. There's more criminal prosecutions that I participated in than I could

02:34count. And I think if you talk to the judges who presided over those cases, and some of them were

02:39high profile, there were a lot of people there, the president's trial in New York, the proceedings in

02:43the Southern District of Florida, what those judges would say is that they didn't agree with every

02:48argument I made. And sometimes they didn't agree with every word I used, but they did feel personally

02:54respected. And I think that's what's important. As I said in response to one of the other senator's

02:59questions, I'm not perfect. I'm not here to tell you that. I do learn from mistakes. I take

03:04constructive criticism seriously. I did with respect to that 2018 email. That's why I got the job the

03:10next time it was open. And I've done so throughout my career. And I think that's prepared me to be the

03:15type of judge that I just described. Thank you. Thank you for responding. Also, just give me a little bit of

03:21insight into the lessons and experience you've learned. Looking at your resume, it is quite

03:26impressive. You have been a clerk, both at the district court and circuit court level. Your time as a

03:31prosecutor, your time at Maine Justice, your comprehensive resume, both with private practice and public

03:37service, I think makes you poised to be excellent on the court. Talk to me a little bit about those

03:44experiences and what you think has best prepared you for as your confirmation, as and when you're

03:51confirmed to do a great job on the bench. Thank you, Senator. I think one of the most important

03:57responsibilities, and there are many, of a judge is to be able to put aside personal opinions and decide

04:03cases based on the facts and the applicable law. And I think that the time that I've spent my career

04:09on both sides of being a prosecutor and a defense lawyer has given me some experience with getting

04:15used to seeing both sides of things, setting aside personal views. There are certainly cases that I

04:21prosecuted that one could hold up, sort of a terrorism case or a drug trafficking case, and say,

04:26how is a person responsible for those kinds of prosecutions and turning around and representing

04:32criminal defendants charged with fraud? Or I did have other clients besides President Trump.

04:39And it's that kind of work and focus on the ethics of representing clients zealously and being

04:46focused on justice and getting to righteous outcomes, regardless of which side of the case I'm on,

04:53that I think would inform a lot of my practice and approach to the bench if I'm fortunate enough

04:58to be confirmed. Thank you so much for your willingness to serve, and congratulations again on your

05:02nomination. Thank you. Thank you, Senator Britt. And as chair, I would like to welcome the United

05:09States Attorney General Pam Bondy to the hearing. We are glad to have you here. Thank you for

05:14attending. I would also like to follow up on Senator Britt's questioning by entering two letters

05:18into the record from 91 former

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