A top Department of Justice official has refused to rule out supporting a third presidential term for President Donald Trump.
Principal Associate Deputy Attorney General Emil Bove told senators this week it would be “inappropriate” for him to weigh in on the legality of a third presidential term, despite the 22nd Amendment explicitly barring it.
“It would not be appropriate for me to address how this amendment would apply in an abstract hypothetical scenario,” he responded in a questionnaire sent by U.S. senators, according to CBS News and Bloomberg. “To the extent this question seeks to elicit an answer that could be taken as opining on the broader political or policy debate regarding term limits, or on statements by any political figure, my response, consistent with the positions of prior judicial nominees, is that it would be improper to offer any such comment as a judicial nominee.”
Bove, 44, led Trump’s defense in his hush-money case, in which he was convicted of 34 felonies in 2023 for allegedly trying to cover up his relationship with pornographic film actress Stormy Daniels.
Trump appointed Bove to a top role in the DOJ on his Inauguration Day, placing him directly under the command of Attorney General Pam Bondi. Bove is now vying for a lifetime seat on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit, which Trump has nominated him to fill. The Senate Judiciary Committee is expected to vote as early as next week on whether it should advance Bove’s nomination.
In preparation for a vote, senators sent Bove a 165-page questionnaire seeking his views on everything from presidential term limits to Jan. 6 rioters, reports CBS News, which obtained a copy of Bove’s answers.
Democrats have heavily scrutinized Bove’s nomination after reports accused him of pressuring government lawyers to disregard court orders in the first months of MAGA 2.0, when the White House regularly encroached on the independence of the judicial branch. He was also accused of orchestrating a quid pro quo agreement with New York Mayor Eric Adams, in which he allegedly pushed the DOJ to drop bribery charges against Adams in return for his support of Trump’s migrant crackdown in the city.
Democratic Sens. Chris Coons of Delaware and Cory Booker of New Jersey were among the lawmakers pressing Bove on Trump’s eligibility to run for a third term.
Trump has openly flirted with the possibility of remaining in office after his second term ends in January 2029, telling NBC News’s Kristen Welker in March that there are “methods” to circumvent the 22nd Amendment and that “a lot of people would like me” to serve another term. The president has since stopped floating the idea amid polling showing 76 percent of Americans, including a majority of Republicans, would oppose him doing so.
The Trump Organization’s website, however, continues to sell merchandise for “Trump 2028,” and some of his top allies, like the MAGA adviser-turned-podcaster Steve Bannon, have endorsed the idea.
Senators also queried Bove on the legitimacy of the 2020 election and whether the Jan. 6, 2021, riot at the U.S. Capitol was an insurrection or not. As with term limits, he declined to give a straight answer.
He said the “characterization of the events on January 6 is a matter of significant political debate,” adding that it would be “inappropriate to address this question” given ongoing litigation over Trump’s pardon of Jan. 6 defendants.
About the 2020 election, he wrote, “President Biden was certified as the winner of the 2020 presidential election and served as the 46th President of the United States.” He added that it “would be improper” for him to opine on “the broader political or policy debate regarding the conduct of the 2020 presidential election or on statements by any political figure.”
