Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-IA) built a reputation over his career in the Senate for urging government whistleblowers to come forward and reveal corruption and misconduct to Congress. But now he has done precisely the opposite with President Donald Trump's nomination of his former personal lawyer and DOJ loyalist Emil Bove for an appellate court position, attacking and threatening multiple whistleblowers who have come forward.

According to The New York Times, Grassley's behavior has had a "chilling" effect on sunlight in government, with other prospective whistleblowers fearing reprisal.

All of this comes as the Trump administration carries out mass purges of the civil service and of any officials across the government perceived to be disloyal to him — an environment where whistleblowers could be more necessary than ever.

"Last month, a day before Mr. Bove testified before the Senate Judiciary Committee over his nomination to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit, a former lawyer for the Justice Department, Erez Reuveni, filed a detailed complaint describing Mr. Bove as a crucial player in pressuring department lawyers to mislead judges and ignore court orders in the administration’s frantic bid to send Venezuelan migrants to a high-security prison in El Salvador," said the report.

Grassley, however, did not take any of this seriously, attacking Reuveni's testimony as a "coordinated political strike" in a Judiciary Committee hearing.