Adam Schiff Accuses Emil Bove Of Telling DOJ To 'Scour Old Epstein Files & Flag Mentions Of Donald Trump'

Forbes Breaking News

During a speech on the Senate floor Wednesday, Sen. Adam Schiff (D-CA) spoke about President Trump's nominee to be a judge on the Third Circuit Court of Appeals Emil Bove, who he accused of looking through documents related to Jeffrey Epstein for mentions of Donald Tump.

Transcript

00:00Mr. President, the Senate this week is considering a nominee so patently unfit to be a federal judge,

00:18so lacking in the temperament, integrity, and judgment to serve as an arbiter of the nation's

00:24laws, that the course of opposition has grown deafening, and the facts revealing his unfitness

00:30for office are too voluminous to be ignored. I'm speaking, of course, of Emile Beauvais,

00:37the lawyer whose misconduct was so egregious that his fellow prosecutors in the Southern

00:42District of New York thought he should be demoted. Someone whose management of cases was so flawed

00:49that a federal judge not only concluded that his team had misled the court, but that it withheld

00:55exculpatory evidence, and the court then ordered the case dismissed, and the Southern District

01:03Prosecutor's Office didn't even bother to try to refile the case. It was that tainted by Mr. Beauvais'

01:12leadership of that team. After Beauvais left the U.S. Attorney's Office under the threat of

01:19demotion, he became one of Donald Trump's criminal defense lawyers, losing the hush money payment

01:27to a porn star case in which Donald Trump was convicted of dozens of felonies. Beauvais, though,

01:34turned that loss and his blind obedience to Trump into a top position at the Department of Justice.

01:42And now for the past six months, it seems like every time there's been an abuse of power at the

01:48Justice Department, Emil Beauvais either directed it, supervised it, or carried it out himself.

01:56When Donald Trump wanted to purge the Justice Department of prosecutors who worked diligently

02:01to investigate the January 6th insurrection, Beauvais was the instrument of his vengeance.

02:09When Trump wanted to purge the Department of Prosecutors who proved to juries beyond a reasonable doubt

02:15that the violent offenders who attacked police officers that day did so to interfere with the peaceful

02:23transfer of power, Emil Beauvais was there to punish not the criminals but the prosecutors.

02:31When Stephen Miller and then FBI Director Cash Patel worked to carry out an additional purge of career

02:38FBI officials who worked on the January 6th investigations, Emil Beauvais was there too.

02:46Earlier this year, when the Trump administration wanted a justification to freeze grants already

02:53approved from the Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund, and they wanted to trump up some justification,

03:02some rationale for trying to prevent the distribution of these funds, who did they turn to?

03:08Well, of course, they turned to Emil Beauvais.

03:11He and then U.S. Attorney Ed Martin pressured the head of the criminal division for the D.C.

03:19U.S. Attorney's Office to open a criminal investigation into the fund.

03:23But there was a problem.

03:27There was no evidence of criminal activity.

03:30There was no probable cause.

03:32There was no predication.

03:35And how do we know this?

03:37How do we know the opening of this case or the threat of opening this case was bogus?

03:42Because the chief of the criminal division in that office resigned rather than comply with this unethical edict.

03:53When Trump's DOJ sought to dismiss a serious and credible corruption case against the mayor of New York, Eric Adams,

04:01who was the one who ordered career prosecutors to drop the case?

04:05That's right, Emil Beauvais.

04:07Time after time, we have seen career public servants stand up to abuses of power like this and refuse to obey,

04:15leaving careers they loved at the Justice Department,

04:19rather than be part of Beauvais's perversion of justice.

04:22I served for almost six years in the Justice Department.

04:26I know the sense of mission that the lawyers in that department feel

04:30and how much they love serving and appearing before a court

04:34and introducing themselves as on behalf of the United States.

04:37It is not a job that people give up easily or for no reason.

04:42But I also know that when put in the position of choosing to follow their ethics in the law,

04:52choosing to obey a dishonorable and dishonest instruction from a supervisor,

04:58yes, they will resign their post, and so many have.

05:01Acting U.S. Attorney Danielle Sassoon was ordered by Beauvais to dismiss the indictment against Eric Adams.

05:09In refusing, she called it what it was,

05:13an improper offer of immigration enforcement assistance in exchange for the dismissal of his case.

05:21In other words, a quid pro quo.

05:24Now, I just want to underscore for people what this means

05:28and how astonishingly abnormal, unethical this action was.

05:36The Justice Department intervened in a criminal case in New York

05:44over the objection of the prosecutors handling the case,

05:48including the acting U.S. Attorney,

05:50to dismiss that corruption case against a public official,

05:54not because there was a lack of evidence.

05:57They didn't even try to claim that.

05:59Not because there was any prosecutorial misconduct.

06:02They didn't even try to argue that.

06:03But because he was useful to the president on his immigration policy.

06:10It is an edict from Beauvais that says,

06:14if you do the president's bidding, we've got your back.

06:18We'll make your corruption case go away.

06:21Quid pro quo.

06:23Now, interestingly, they didn't want it to go away completely.

06:25They wanted it to go away without prejudice.

06:29That is, so they could bring it back

06:31if you didn't do exactly what the president wanted.

06:35Anyone who's ever served in the Justice Department

06:37could tell you just how unethical that is.

06:43And rather than obey those orders from Beauvais,

06:47the acting U.S. Attorney Sassoon resigned,

06:50and many others followed.

06:51Quote, one of them said, quote,

06:55I expect you will eventually find someone

06:58who is enough of a fool or a coward to file your motion.

07:04But it was never going to be me.

07:08No, it didn't have to be him,

07:10because it was enough for Amel Beauvais.

07:14He is there whenever Donald Trump needs someone

07:19to carry out his will,

07:21regardless of ethical or even legal considerations.

07:25And dedicated public servants, career prosecutors,

07:27are standing up to him, willing to risk their jobs,

07:30willing to risk retaliation by a vindictive president.

07:35Some of those brave attorneys have come to our committee

07:37as whistleblowers.

07:38In one case, Ervraveni,

07:41a 15-year veteran at the department

07:44who worked in both Republican and Democratic administrations,

07:47shared with our committee that Amel Beauvais

07:49told DOJ lawyers that they would need to

07:52consider telling the courts,

07:54F you, and ignore any such court order

07:58that might get in the way of the Trump administration's

08:01strategy of rapid deportation without due process.

08:05And in fact, Beauvais' lawyers at DOJ

08:09would go on to lie to the judge

08:10and violate court orders,

08:13prompting the judge to issue an order

08:14to show cause why they should not be held in contempt.

08:20And Senator Whitehouse is exactly right.

08:23The Court of Appeals has delayed

08:25that hearing on the order to show cause

08:28why those lawyers under Beauvais' supervision

08:31should not be held in contempt.

08:32And my colleagues here want to rush this thing through.

08:36Well, what will they say

08:38if the judge finds

08:40that Beauvais and others of the Justice Department

08:44willfully ignored court orders?

08:47What will they say

08:48once they've given him a lifetime tenure

08:51on the Court of Appeals?

08:53Now, during Beauvais' confirmation hearing,

08:56I asked him about his F you instruction,

09:00and he made the dubious claim that he couldn't recall.

09:06Now, that's remarkable.

09:09It's not like we're talking about events

09:10that happened 10 years ago.

09:11This was like two months ago,

09:13just a few weeks ago.

09:14I think I would remember

09:16if I had told other lawyers

09:18that we should say F you to the courts.

09:20So either he instructs them frequently

09:25to say F you to the courts

09:26such that he wouldn't remember

09:27this particular occasion,

09:28or he's being dishonest with us.

09:34But his use of that vulgar injunction

09:36was corroborated

09:38by other DOJ lawyers in text messages,

09:41so we really don't need to wonder about this.

09:43As one DOJ lawyer texted another,

09:47guess it's find-out time on the F you.

09:52Well, now it's find-out time

09:56for the U.S. Senate,

09:58where we find out

10:00whether we are willing

10:01to confirm just anybody,

10:04no matter how unfit,

10:05no matter how terrible the record,

10:07no matter how abundant the evidence,

10:10it is find-out time for the U.S. Senate.

10:13Now, what was Beauvais' role

10:16in tasking DOJ and FBI

10:18to scour old Epstein files

10:20and flag mentions of Donald Trump?

10:23I know my colleague,

10:25Senator Booker,

10:25has tried to find out,

10:26and Senator Durbin

10:27has tried to find out.

10:28We don't know

10:29because Beauvais refuses to tell us.

10:31But we do know that his fellow

10:35criminal defense lawyer,

10:36Todd Blanche,

10:38he and Blanche were the two lawyers

10:39that represented Trump

10:40in that hush-money payment

10:41to a porn star case,

10:43that Todd Blanche is now rushing

10:45to meet with Epstein's

10:47chief co-conspirator in jail.

10:49It is self-evident

10:52that Blanche is there

10:53to represent the president's

10:55personal interests,

10:57not the public interest.

10:59And Beauvais represents

11:00exactly the same problem.

11:04With Beauvais' nomination,

11:05we are about to find out

11:06if Republicans are content

11:08to give a man

11:09so routinely in defiance

11:11of the rule of law

11:12a lifetime job interpreting it

11:14on behalf of millions of Americans.

11:16We wanted to hear

11:18from those whistleblowers

11:19like Erev Ravani,

11:21just some of the hundreds

11:22of public servants

11:23who were speaking out,

11:24but Republicans declined

11:26our request for testimony

11:27and additional hearings

11:28even as they rushed

11:29to jam through this nomination

11:31for a lifetime position.

11:33And sadly,

11:34we will all have a lifetime

11:35to regret it.

11:38Like so many of his unfit

11:40cabinet nominees,

11:41Donald Trump is daring

11:43Senate Republicans

11:44to oppose him.

11:46I hope and pray they will

11:48because the pattern is clear.

11:51Emil Beauvais takes orders

11:52from Donald Trump

11:53and that is it.

11:55His only merit

11:56is blind obedience,

11:58not to the law,

11:59but to the president.

12:00And not just any president,

12:02but to one who is also

12:04a convicted felon.

12:06And so I urge my colleagues,

12:07look at Beauvais' record

12:08of disrespect for the law

12:10and reject this dangerous nominee.

12:13Mr. President,

12:15I yield back.

Category

Transcript

Recommended