President Donald Trump said on Wednesday that he was nominating Justice Department official Emil Bove, who previously defended Trump in a criminal case stemming from money paid to a porn star, to serve as a federal appeals court judge.
Trump in a post on his social media platform Truth Social said he is nominating Bove, who serves as principal associate deputy attorney general, to serve as a life-tenured judge on the Philadelphia-based 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.
"He will end the Weaponization of Justice, restore the Rule of Law, and do anything else that is necessary to, MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN," Trump wrote. "Emil Bove will never let you down!"
The announcement brought to six the number of judicial nominees the Republican president has announced in his second term in office and the second for one of the 13 federal appeals courts that sit below the U.S. Supreme Court.
Trump is expected to have the chance to make more than 100 judicial nominations over the next four years, adding to the conservative stamp he made on the judiciary with 234 appointments during his first term.
Bove, a former federal prosecutor, represented Trump at his criminal trial in Manhattan last year alongside Todd Blanche, who is currently deputy attorney general. Trump was convicted on charges stemming from money paid to a porn star, but is appealing.
During the early weeks of the Trump administration, before Blanche was confirmed for his position, Bove served as acting deputy attorney general.
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