An attorney for ex-President Donald Trump erred while filling out paperwork related to Special Counsel Jack Smith’s appeal of the former president’s classified documents case dismissal.
In court filings reviewed by Newsweek, Trump’s attorney Emil Bove was flagged on Thursday for filling out a “deficient appearance of counsel” notice. The filing was made to the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals, which will weigh in on U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon’s dismissal of Trump’s 40 felony counts related to his handling of sensitive materials retrieved from his Mar-a-Lago estate.
Bove filed a notice of appearance form at 4:29 p.m. Thursday. The court responded at 4:54 p.m.: “Notice of deficient Appearance of Counsel filed by Emil Bove for Donald J. Trump. An attorney may not electronically file through another person’s ECF [electronic court filing] account.”
Bove filed another appearance of counsel form at 7:44 p.m. Thursday, which did not appear to be flagged by the court.
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Federal prosecutor James Pearce also filed an appearance of counsel form before the appeals court at 1:51 p.m. Friday to argue on behalf of the federal government. Department of Justice attorney John Pellettieri will also defend Smith’s office, per a court filing. Defense lawyer Kendra Wharton has filed to represent Trump’s side of the case before the appeals circuit alongside Bove.
Bove’s mistake was highlighted by legal analyst Allison Gill, who wrote on X, formerly Twitter, on Friday that the Trump attorney had attempted to file a notice of appearance but “screwed it up and had to refile because he used someone else’s account.”
Newsweek sent an email to Bove for additional comment Friday afternoon.
Smith on Wednesday appealed Cannon’s dismissal of the classified documents case. The judge had ruled that it should be dismissed on the grounds that Smith was not properly appointed as special counsel, an argument made by Trump’s team.
Peter Carr, Smith’s spokesperson, issued a statement after Cannon’s ruling, saying that the “dismissal of the case deviates from the uniform conclusion of all previous courts to have considered the issue that the Attorney General is statutorily authorized to appoint a Special Counsel. The justice department has authorized the Special Counsel to appeal the court’s order.”
Bove also represented Trump in the Manhattan hush money case in which the former president was convicted of 34 counts of falsifying business records over hush money paid to porn star Stormy Daniels during his 2016 presidential campaign.
Uncommon Knowledge
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Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.
