Sen. Grassley denounces concerns over handling of committee vote on Trump judicial pick

Iowa U.S. Sen. Chuck Grassley on Wednesday dismissed concerns that he cut off debate before a vote to nominate an attorney who previously represented President Donald Trump to federal district court last week, which caused Senate Democrats to walk out of a committee meeting.

On July 17, the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee, which Grassley chairs, voted on 10 judicial nominations, including Emil Bove, a current top official at the U.S. Department of Justice and one of Trump’s former personal defense attorneys.

Grassley drew criticism from Democrats who said he went against Senate rules and shut down debate on Bove’s nomination to a lifetime appointment to the 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals before they could express their worries.

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During the hearing, all Democrats on the panel walked out before the vote due to their concerns about the actions Bove took in his leadership roles in the DOJ, including allegations from whistleblowers claiming that Bove suggested the department should ignore court orders. Bove, who has denied these claims, played a role in the firing of DOJ staffers who worked on cases related to the Jan. 6, 2021 attack on the U.S. Capitol.

Grassley addressed the nomination on a press call with reporters Wednesday, saying he informed committee members ahead of the meeting that they were on a tight timeline because some members had scheduling conflicts.

“It wasn't that I didn't want to hear what they had to say about it, because I told them ahead of time that after we vote … if people didn't speak or get a chance to speak ahead of time, I'd stay around listen to them as long as they wanted to. They didn't stay around so I didn't have to listen to them,” Grassley said.

Grassley added there is precedent for what he did, pointing to former committee chair, Democratic U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin of Illinois, who Grassley says cut off Republican debate on panels in charge of nominating Biden appointees.

All twelve Republicans voted to advance Bove’s nomination to the full Senate, which narrowly agreed to start considering the appointment Tuesday with a 50-48 vote.

Grassley said the information on the whistleblower complaint from a former DOJ employee was made public the night before the hearing, adding that he determined the claims were meritless following an investigation into them by his office.

“There's no doubt about the thorough investigation that we did,” Grassley said. “Not only was it not justified in their criticism or the information that we got from whistleblowers wasn't of much value. It looked to me like an attempt just to … stymie us at the last midnight hour before we were making movements in this area.”

Grassley on the Epstein files

During the call with reporters, Grassley also was asked what he thinks the Trump administration or Congress should do to ensure transparency in the Jeffrey Epstein case.

In recent weeks, the Trump administration has come under fire over the release of information from an investigation into Epstein, a financier who died in jail in 2019 while awaiting trial on federal sex trafficking charges.

Many prominent Republicans and supporters of Trump have criticized the president, saying his administration hasn't done enough to release the truth behind the sex trafficking charges against Epstein.

U.S. House Speaker Mike Johnson called an early five-week-long summer recess Tuesday to avoid a bipartisan push for a vote to force the Department of Justice to release files on Epstein.

Grassley said he’s been consistently looking into the case since Epstein was first arrested in 2006 and hopes that U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi and Federal Bureau of Investigations Director Kash Patel will make more details of the investigation public.

“True accountability, especially for people that have been victimized by the Epstein episode, requires full transparency. People have a right to know the details behind this investigation,” Grassley told reporters. “I know that Bondi and Patel are working together to answer questions about this investigation … and I hope that results in bringing perpetrators to justice.”