Congress
Bove’s nomination not yet derailed by new whistleblower complaint
Staff for Senate Judiciary Committee chair Chuck Grassley met Monday with lawyers for a third whistleblower testifying against Emil Bove, President Donald Trump’s nominee to sit on the Third Circuit Court of Appeals whose confirmation vote could be scheduled for as soon as Tuesday.
Grassley said in a brief interview his team found out about the new allegations in recent days from social media, but his staff was unable to secure the meeting until Monday.
“I don’t have the results of that sit-down, but I do know this: All we’ve been getting all weekend is the runaround, so I really have questions about the adequacy with the way the Democrats are handling this,” Grassley said. “I just don’t think it shows the proper respect for whistleblowers.”
Bove’s nomination has been dogged by accusations he suggested defying court orders that could pull back on the administration’s aggressive immigration and deportation agenda.
Senate Judiciary Democrats asked to hold a hearing with one former DOJ employee, Erez Reuveni, the first whistleblower to implicate Bove with potential misconduct. Grassley declined the request. A second whistleblower against Bove is currently being represented by the nonprofit group, Whistleblower Aid.
Democrats argue these complaints warrant Bove’s disqualification for a lifetime judgeship, and have dedicated significant time and messaging resources to slamming his consideration. It’s not likely, though, that this new development could be enough to sway more Republicans to oppose him. GOP Sens. Lisa Murkowski of Alaska and Susan Collins of Maine are expected to vote “no.”
Sen. Thom Tillis, whose opposition to Trump’s previous U.S. attorney pick for the District of Columbia tanked the nomination and is not running for reelection, had been viewed as a possible Republican who could be flipped on judicial contenders. But the North Carolina lawmaker said Monday his support of Bove remained unchanged.
“The problem that I’m running into is whether or not people are willing to come out and identify themselves, or at least identify themselves to members,” said Tillis of the whistleblowers.
Tillis also pointed out Bove would be confirmed with or without his support: unless a fourth Republican were to come out and oppose the nominee, there “no” votes would only require Vice President JD Vance to break the tie and deliver the White House a victory.
A Grassley spokesperson, Clare Slattery, also slammed the new whistleblower’s late allegations.
“His staff has so far spoken to more than a dozen people who have reached out to share information about the Bove nomination, and has not declined a meeting with anyone who said they had information to share,” Slattery said in a statement regarding sides for the committee chair.
“These eleventh-hour allegations, which were shared in advance with Democrats and the media but not with the Chairman or his staff, reek of a bad faith attempt to sink a nominee who’s already received committee approval,” she continued.
Grassley staff also has yet to review or gain access to the documents that support the third whistleblower’s complaint.
Once Trump’s criminal defense lawyer, Bove is now a top official at the Department of Justice.
If confirmed, he would hold a lifetime seat on the court with jurisdiction over Pennsylvania, Delaware, New Jersey, and the Virgin Islands.
House Republicans have advanced a bill that would prohibit members of Congress and their family members from trading on certain Washington-focused prediction markets.
The House Administration Committee’s GOP members on Wednesday voted along party lines in favor of the legislation, which proposes to bar lawmakers, their spouses and their dependent children from participating on prediction markets that are based on the outcome of elections or government actions.
It marks the latest in Capitol Hill’s efforts to curb the threat of insider trading on the prediction markets — a risk that has burst into the spotlight in recent months after a series of well-timed trades around the capture of then-Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro, Google’s search results and the Iran war. Earlier this year, the Senate banned its members and their staffs from trading on the prediction markets altogether, effective immediately.
And yet, the House Administration Committee vote also revealed a fracture within the House over how far to go in clamping down on lawmakers’ use of the prediction markets. Democrats opposed the bill, saying it didn’t go far enough, while Republicans supported it.
Rep. Joe Morelle of New York, who is the committee’s top Democrat, argued that the legislation is “so filled with loopholes that it looks more like a sieve than a bill.” Instead of passing such a bill, he said the House should follow the Senate’s lead and approve a new and broader resolution aimed at prediction market use among members and their staffs.
“The Senate did it in a matter of minutes — no six-month grace period, no procedurally laborious process,” Morelle said. “They just went to the floor with a two-page resolution and banned it all unanimously. We should do the same.”
House Administration Chair Bryan Steil, who introduced the bill, hit back at his Democratic counterpart’s concerns by questioning why members’ families shouldn’t be allowed to bet on sports through the prediction markets — but can through sportsbooks or casinos.
The Wisconsin Republican pointed to a hypothetical scenario where a member’s child is at college and bets on a sporting event through a prediction market platform. That situation, he said, could be covered by a broader prohibition.
Steil, rather, said his bill is aimed at addressing public policy- and election-focused markets.
“Lawmakers elect to serve the American people, not to enrich themselves by wagering on outcomes from the decisions they make,” he said. “We have a real opportunity to restore trust in Congress by taking necessary steps to eliminate even the appearance of impropriety.”
House Republican leaders canceled plans to advance a procedural measure Wednesday that would set up passage of two fiscal 2027 appropriations bills and other legislation this week, according to three people granted anonymity to describe the decision ahead of a public announcement.
The decision comes amid pressure from GOP hard-liners to prioritize passage of the SAVE America Act, a Republican elections bill that has stalled in the Senate — and after President Donald Trump refused to sign a high-profile bipartisan housing bill passed Tuesday, also in a bid to get the elections bill moving.
Speaker Mike Johnson and other leaders are expected to keep members in Washington for now while they determine next steps, the people said.
Hours after Democratic socialist candidates swept to victory in New York primary races, Republicans celebrated those victories as a boon for their own party as it struggles against headwinds from the Iran war and cost of living issues ahead of the November midterms.
Inside a closed-door House GOP meeting Wednesday morning, the head of the Republican campaign arm said the victories of candidates backed by New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani offered an opportunity for GOP House candidates to draw a sharp contrast.
Rep. Richard Hudson of North Carolina said “Democrats have a Bolshevik revolution going on in their primaries,” according to three people in the room granted anonymity to discuss the private event.
Speaker Mike Johnson also delivered remarks to Republicans setting the stakes of the election after the “radical” left-wing wins and urging Republicans to dig in and raise money to defeat Democrats this fall. He received a standing ovation, the people in the room said.
Hudson said House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries will take the socialists’ wins as a sign he needs to navigate further to the left. There will be no cooperation with Republicans, he added.
Other Republicans publicly seized on the left-wing triumphs Wednesday, including Sen. Bernie Moreno of Ohio — who said “the lesson is clear: if Republicans don’t act now, we will lose this country as we know it.”
“We need to be clear about what we stand for,” he wrote on X. “Closed borders, secure elections, economic prosperity for all Americans, and, most of all, proudly protecting the American way of life against socialism.”
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