By Nate Raymond, Luc Cohen, Sarah N. Lynch (Reuters) -President Donald Trump said on Wednesday he is nominating U.S. Justice Department official Emil Bove, a lawyer who previously defended Trump in a case in which he was convicted of criminal charges involving hush 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 announced that he is nominating Bove, currently the 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 federal judicial nominees Trump has announced in his second term in office as the Republican president moves to add to the conservative stamp he made on the federal judiciary with 234 appointments during his first term, from 2017-2021. Bove represented Trump at his criminal trial in Manhattan last year alongside Todd Blanche, who is currently serving as deputy attorney general. The jury in the case found Trump guilty of falsifying documents to cover up a payment made ahead of the 2016 U.S. election to silence porn star Stormy Daniels, who has said she had a sexual encounter with Trump years earlier. Trump has denied such an encounter and is appealing his conviction. In the first weeks after Trump returned to office, Bove served as acting deputy attorney general before Blanche was confirmed by the Republican-controlled Senate for his position. Bove signed his name to a number of policy changes meant to remove what Trump calls political bias but which critics say threaten the Justice Department's traditional independence from the White House. In a confrontation that sent shockwaves through the legal profession, Bove in February instructed prosecutors with the Manhattan U.S. Attorney's office – where Bove used to work – to drop a corruption case previously brought against New York City Mayor Eric Adams. When the prosecutors refused to do so, Bove took over the case against Adams, who had pleaded not guilty, and argued in court himself - a highly unusual move for a senior Justice Department official. Ultimately, the judge overseeing the case dismissed the charges, but said the Justice Department's argument that the case should be dropped because it was interfering with the Democratic mayor's help with Trump's federal immigration crackdown "smacks of a bargain." Bove's order to dismiss the Adams case prompted 11 prosecutors in Washington and New York to resign. Bove is now facing at least three ethics complaints with the New York state bar over his conduct that were filed by government ethics advocacy groups, state officials and members of Congress. Earlier in his career, Bove served as co-chief of the terrorism and international narcotics unit at the Manhattan U.S. Attorney's office. As a prosecutor from 2012 through 2021, Bove secured the conviction of a former Honduran president's brother on drug charges and the guilty plea of a New York man who tried to support the Islamic State militant group. (Reporting by Nate Raymond, Luc Cohen, Costas Pitas and Jasper Ward; Editing by Caitlin Webber, Cynthia Osterman, Will Dunham Alexia Garamfalvi)
