US whistleblower accuses Trump officials of willfully ignoring court orders | Donald Trump News

A former lawyer with the United States Department of Justice (DOJ) has published a whistleblower complaint accusing officials of intentionally ignoring court orders that might impede US President Donald Trump’s campaign for mass deportation.

On Tuesday, representatives for Erez Reuveni filed a 35-page letter of complaint detailing the lawyer’s allegations against the Trump administration.

It offers a look at the debates and divisions unfolding behind the scenes at the Justice Department, as it defends Trump’s efforts to arrest and rapidly deport non-citizens, a process that has spurred concern about rights violations.

Members of the Trump administration have “engaged in unlawful activity, abused their authority, [and] created substantial and specific threat to health and safety”, according to the letter.

As a result, it says, “Mr Reuveni is exercising his rights … to report wrongdoing”.

The letter was addressed to members of Congress, as well as the inspector general for the Justice Department, who investigates allegations of misconduct within the bureau. Reuveni was ultimately fired in April.

One administration official who features prominently in his allegations is Emil Bove, who formerly served as Trump’s personal lawyer. Bove helped to defend Trump against criminal charges last year in New York, where he was found guilty of 34 counts of falsifying business documents.

Trump has since named Bove to be part of his administration in his second term as president. For the first three months of Trump’s term, Bove was acting attorney general at the Justice Department. And this week, he faces a Senate confirmation hearing for his nomination to join the US Third Circuit Court of Appeals as a judge.

Scrutiny on deportation flights

One incident allegedly occurred on March 14, when Trump was weighing whether to use a wartime law — the Alien Enemies Act of 1798 — to pave the way for expedited removals from the country.

According to Reuveni’s account, Bove told Justice Department lawyers that Trump would soon sign an order to invoke the law, which had only been used three times in US history, all during periods of war.

Bove added that planes would imminently take off, deporting individuals under the law’s authority.

But as Reuveni recalled, Bove anticipated pushback from the courts. He said that Bove “stressed to all in attendance that the planes needed to take off no matter what” and that the Justice Department “would need to consider telling the courts ‘f*** you’”.

The room fell silent, according to Reuveni, who observed “awkward, nervous glances” among his colleagues.

“Mr Reuveni was stunned by Bove’s statement because, to Mr Reuveni’s knowledge, no one in DOJ leadership — in any Administration — had ever suggested the Department of Justice could blatantly ignore court orders, especially with a ‘f*** you’,” the complaint said.

It added that the Justice Department typically advises its government clients to follow court orders, not ignore them.

The very next day, on March 15, the government’s use of the Alien Enemies Act was challenged in a US district court in Washington, DC, led by Judge James Boasberg.

When questioned by Boasberg, a high-ranking Justice Department lawyer denied knowing whether any deportation flights were taking off imminently. In his complaint, Reuveni said that statement was false.

Later that day, Boasberg issued a court injunction that barred any removals under the Alien Enemies Act and required any US planes carrying out such deportations to return to the country.

Reuveni said he emailed the Department of Homeland Security and the Department of State multiple times in the hours afterwards to ensure they complied with Boasberg’s order. But he said he received no reply.

The flights ultimately landed in El Salvador, where hundreds of deported immigrants were sent to a prison called the Terrorism Confinement Centre or CECOT.

“Mr Reuveni anticipated that the government would be held in contempt of court for deplaning those on the flight,” the complaint reads.

Boasberg has since indicated that he has found probable cause for contempt on the part of the Trump administration, though an appeals court has temporarily paused proceedings on the matter.

Inside the Abrego Garcia case

In a second instance detailed in the complaint, Reuveni said he tried to alert the Trump administration that it may be in violation of another court injunction — only to be “told to stop asking questions”.

Further, Reuveni alleged that he received advice to “communicate by phone only where possible”, presumably to avoid leaving a paper trail.

A third episode outlined in the complaint sheds light on Reuveni’s participation in the high-profile case of Kilmar Abrego Garcia, a Salvadoran man who had a protection order allowing him to remain in the US.

Abrego Garcia was nevertheless deported on March 15, in what officials admitted was an…