Democrats walk out of Bove meeting before vote
Democrats walked out of the Senate Judiciary Committee meeting on Bove’s nomination after Sen. Cory Booker, D-N.J., accused Republican Chairman Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, of rushing the vote without allowing all of his colleagues to speak.
“This is out of order,” Booker said. “This is absolutely insane. What is the rush?”
Booker joined his colleagues in leaving after blasting Grassley for pushing ahead with the vote, saying the move lacked “decorum.”
Sen. Dick Durbin says Bove ‘lacks the judgment and temperament to sit on the bench’
Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., said that Bove “should not be seriously considered by the Senate for a lifetime appointment to the federal bench.”
He highlighted Erez Reuveni’s whistleblower complaint, criticizing the GOP for not letting Reuveni testify ahead of the vote on Bove. Durbin also criticized Bove’s actions in the department related to the dismissal of personnel involved in the investigation of the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol.
“Mr. Bove lacks the judgment and temperament to sit on the bench,” Durbin said.
Durbin slams Trump administration over handling of Epstein files
Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., the ranking Democrat on the Judiciary Committee, used his remarks to slam the administration’s treatment of the Jeffrey Epstein case, which has fractured the MAGA base.
Durbin called out Attorney General Pam Bondi in particular, noting that “the public is really suspicious of her findings.”
The senator also invoked Trump’s post to Truth Social yesterday, where he disavowed supporters calling for more transparency around the Epstein case.
“President Trump and Attorney General Bondi are directly responsible for all this confusion and mistrust, and they need to be fully transparent, and they should release all of the documents for the public to review as quickly as possible,” he said.
Sen. Chuck Grassley calls criticism of Bove ‘a political hit job’
Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, opened the Senate Judiciary Committee meeting to consider Bove’s nomination by criticizing the pushback on the nominee as “unfair rhetoric and treatment.”
“What we’re witnessing has all the hallmarks of a political hit job,” Grassley said.
He said that he takes whistleblower complaints seriously, referring to allegations against Bove by former Justice Department lawyer Erez Reuveni.
What should Trump do about Epstein questions? MAGA has a few ideas
Trump is facing growing pressure, including from some of his closest allies, for more transparency on the Jeffrey Epstein case. But there are mixed opinions on what steps the administration should take next.
The president has urged his supporters to move on from the case, decrying the story as “boring” and lashing out at those who have called for more information. Despite this, many people — including allies but also Democrats and critics on the right — have demanded more clarity about the case. Epstein was found dead in a New York jail cell in 2019 while he was awaiting a trial on sex trafficking charges. Conspiracy theories have swirled since then, including baseless claims that he was killed to protect his powerful clients.
Read the full story here.
Trump Lashes out at ‘Stupid Republicans’ Over Epstein Files
Trump is lashing out at some of his own supporters over their demands for more information about the late convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. “It’s all been a big hoax. It’s perpetrated by the Democrats and some stupid Republicans and foolish Republicans fall into the net,” Trump said. NBC’s Gabe Gutierrez reports for “TODAY.”
Senate Judiciary Committee to vote on Emil Bove’s nomination to 3rd Circuit
The Senate Judiciary Committee is expected to vote this morning on the nomination of Emil Bove, a senior Justice Department official and former personal defense attorney for Trump, to be a judge on the Philadelphia-based 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.
Bove has been accused of dropping corruption charges against New York Mayor Eric Adams in return for his help on immigration matters, which both he and the mayor have denied. Bove said at the time that Adams’ indictment came too close to the mayoral primary and hindered his ability to help with immigration enforcement and crime-fighting.
A former Justice Department lawyer also accused Bove of suggesting that subordinates defy court orders aimed at stopping deportations, which Bove also has denied.
Bove also has come under criticism for his involvement in the dismissals of prosecutors and FBI agents who worked on the investigation of the Jan. 6 riot.
New U.S. assessment finds American strikes destroyed only one of three Iranian nuclear sites
One of the three nuclear enrichment sites in Iran struck by the United States last month was mostly destroyed, setting work there back significantly. But the two others were not as badly damaged and may have been degraded only to a point where nuclear enrichment could resume in the next several months if Iran wants it to, according to a recent U.S. assessment of the destruction caused by the military operation, five current and former U.S. officials familiar with the assessment told NBC News.
The assessment, part of the Trump administration’s ongoing efforts to determine the status of Iran’s nuclear program since the facilities were struck, was briefed to some U.S. lawmakers, Defense Department officials and allied countries in recent days, four of those people said.
Read the full story here.
GOP-led Senate votes to cancel $9 billion in funding for foreign aid, NPR and PBS
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The Republican-led Senate Republicans voted early this morning to pass a package of spending cuts requested by Trump, sending it to the House.
The rescissions package cancels previously approved funding totaling $9 billion for foreign aid and the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, which funds NPR and PBS. Republicans passed it through a rarely used process to evade the 60-vote threshold and modify a bipartisan spending deal on party lines.
Read the full story here.
