On June 23, the White House sent to #Congress a notification under the #WarPowers Resolution of 1973 articulating both domestic & international legal arguments justifying the attack on #Iran. These justifications are unconvincing, raise profound concerns as to whether the #ExecutiveBranch has adopted expansive new legal theories justifying the use of force, & now should provide additional impetus for Congress to push back against this unauthorized attack on Iran.

Reuveni responded, “I didn’t sign up to lie.”

He was placed on administrative leave hours later, & fired the next week.

The next day, Reuveni was told he should sign an appeal brief making the terrorism claim against #KilmarAbregoGarcia.

Reuveni’s lawyers say he resisted, arguing that the #law does not allow advocates to make new factual claims, which he saw as “contrary to law, frivolous, & untrue.”

That led to a final standoff with his supervisor, Flentje, who told him “he should sign the brief & that he had signed up for the responsibility to do so.”

Reuveni’s account asserts that a third illegal order came in the case of #KilmarAbregoGarcia, the mistakenly deported #immigrant in Maryland who was sent to #ElSalvador on one of the March 15 flights despite a judge’s prior ruling that he should not be sent there.

At a court hearing, Reuveni made headlines when he agreed with an earlier admission from the admin that Abrego Garcia’s removal had been a mistake.

Those detainees were flown there by #military planes, which alarmed Mr. Reuveni because #CourtOrders seemed to clearly bar such removals. Mr. Reuveni’s account notes that he was given an elevated title & responsibilities in March by his superiors, & received commendations from his supervisors during the first #Trump admin.

As the admin continued to stonewall the judge, Mr. Reuveni found it increasingly difficult to get any answers from his bosses, or the agencies he was representing in court, according to his account.

Those difficulties only increased after the administration sent 17 #immigrants, which it described as violent criminals & gang members, first to a US #military facility in #GuantánamoBay, & then #ElSalvador.

On March 17, Judge #Boasberg instructed the government to explain when the planes departed. After that order, Mr. Reuveni was told by his superiors “that leadership at #DOJ were reporting ‘down the chain’ that the government was not going to answer the court’s questions about anything that happened before 7:26PM on March 15, & so not to provide information about when the flights took off.”

According to an email Mr. Reuveni received from Yaakov Roth, the acting assistant attorney general, “Bove had advised #DHS that under the court order it was permissible to deplane individuals on the flights that departed US airspace” before Judge #Boasberg’s written order appeared on the court docket.

Behind the scenes, government lawyers struggled to make sense of how to proceed given their vague instructions. Over the next day, his account states, “it became clear to Mr. Reuveni” that the Departments of #State & #HomelandSecurity “were receiving contrary directions from someone else to take actions in violation of court orders.”

At 6:44PM, Reuveni texted his supervisor, Flentje, referring to #EmilBove’s disparaging comment toward the judicial system. Flentje, his account continued, “acknowledged Bove’s comment with a joke referencing the possibility that either he or Reuveni could be fired, impliedly for reporting up their chain of command concerns that a #CourtOrder may have been violated.”

That answer, according to Reuveni’s account, was false. “Ensign had been present in the previous day’s meeting when #EmilBove stated clearly that one or more planes containing individuals subject to the #AEA would be taking off over the weekend no matter what,” the account states.

While Ensign represented the government in court, Reuveni listened by phone, sending updates to lawyers at the Departments of #State & #HomelandSecurity.

Reuveni’s account describes 3 instances in which senior #DOJ officials engaged in wrongdoing by ignoring #CourtOrders, presenting legal arguments w/no basis in #law, misrepresenting facts to the courts, & directing him in one instance to misstate facts in violation of his “legal & ethical duties as an officer of the court.”

Reuveni’s experience has elicited major concern within the rank & file of the #DOJ, as many current & former department lawyers believe he was placed in an impossible position — ordered to ignore or mislead the courts, which is a potentially career-ending violation of #legal #ethics.

To many of the thousands of lawyers who work in the #DOJ, those claims ring as a hollow rationalization for its leadership’s willingness to use the #criminal #justice system to pursue a vengeful right-wing agenda.

Already, hundreds of DOJ lawyers have quit rather than follow the course being set by the #Trump admin. Scores of others have been demoted or fired.

Those appointees, including #EmilBove, maintain that their goal is to end “weaponization” of the #DOJ, citing as examples of [perceived] prior prosecutorial wrongdoing the #criminal cases filed against #Trump, #Jan6 rioters & other *conservatives* who claim to have been unfairly targeted.

Mr. Reuveni’s account highlights the tensions that have been roiling the #DOJ for months, where many current & former career lawyers have come to fear that the department’s political leadership, chosen by #Trump, is engaged in a systematic effort to undermine the rule of law.

A Justice Department spox did not immediately comment on Mr. Reuveni’s #whistleblower filing.

#EmilBove informed his subordinates that #Trump would soon invoke the #AlienEnemiesAct in order to rapidly fly a group of #immigrants out of the country that weekend. Two other officials in that office, James McHenry & Paul Perkins, were in attendance, as well as Reuveni’s supervisors, Drew Ensign & August Flentje, according to the #whistleblower document.