Republicans on the Senate Judiciary Committee voted Thursday to advance the nomination of controversial Justice Department official Emil Bove to a lifetime appointment on a federal court. The vote came despite vocal objections from Democrats after committee Chair Chuck Grassley shut off debate on Bove’s nomination. All Democrats on the panel walked out of the vote in protest. Earlier this week, over 75 former federal and state judges sent a bipartisan letter urging the Judiciary Committee to reject Bove’s nomination. Separately, more than 900 former Justice Department attorneys issued a similar plea. Bove has been called an “extreme ideologue” and has allegedly directed Justice Department lawyers to ignore judicial orders that undermine Trump’s agenda. This is Democratic Senator Sheldon Whitehouse.

Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse: “As to Emil Bove, let me start with this nominee having told a room full of Department of Justice lawyers that if the federal courts didn’t back off on restricting unlawful deportations, they would have to tell courts, 'F you.'”

Democrats also accuse Bove of being involved in a Justice Department decision not to release the Epstein files. Bove is Trump’s former personal lawyer.