Months before the US military began launching air strikes against suspected drug vessels, former Justice Department acting deputy attorney general Emil Bove told employees the government should just “sink the boats” rather than prosecute the people on board, three witnesses told Reuters.
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Bove made similar remarks on at least three separate occasions between November 2024 and February 2025 when the topic of maritime drug cases was broached, the witnesses said. All three were granted anonymity to detail internal Justice Department discussions. NPR first reported the news on Monday.
The witnesses now view Bove’s remarks as a harbinger of the unprecedented militaristic approach the Trump administration is taking by bombing suspected drug vessels, rather than the traditional response of seizing the ships, confiscating the drugs and arresting those on board.
Reuters could not determine whether Bove, who left the department in early September to begin serving as a judge for the US Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit, was directly involved in discussions with the Pentagon about the plans to strike suspected drug vessels.
Bove declined to comment through a court spokesperson. A Justice Department spokesperson downplayed the recollections of the witnesses, calling them “disgruntled”, but did not dispute their account.
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“This Department of Justice along with the entire Trump Administration is committed to ending the illegal trafficking of deadly drugs into our country and leaks from disgruntled former employees will not distract us from our mission,” the spokesperson said.