Brett Kavanaugh’s Supreme Court confirmation hearing was punctuated by Democratic interruptions, protesters, arrests and Cory Booker’s self-proclaimed “Spartacus” moment. Booker, a New Jersey Democrat, now faces a possible ethics probe after displaying unusual behavior and releasing documents that he may not have had permission to release.
Specifically, Sen. Cory Booker’s “Spartacus” moment involved releasing Judiciary Committee documents considered private and relative to Kavanaugh, Supreme Court nominee. Booker claimed at the time that he was aware of the Senate rules he was violating and that he was prepared to “invite the consequences,” even if they included ouster from the Senate.
The news of a potential ethics probe broke as Mitch McConnell, Senate Majority Leader, spoke with radio host Hugh Hewitt and stated that he “wouldn’t be surprised” if Booker was looked into for his obvious “unusual behavior.”
McConnell stated that Cory’s behavior could have broken Senate rules and is something the Ethics Committee could look at, but it’s up for them to decide. McConnell stated, as per Politico, “They have an obligation to look into violations of the Senate rules, and it wouldn’t surprise me if they did.”
McConnell has no power to instruct the committee to probe Booker’s behavior or release of documents which could be considered breaking Senate rules. It should be stated that some of the documents were previously cleared for release.
John Cornyn (R-Texas), Senate Majority Whip, chimed in, stating that Booker’s use of the documents is a matter for the Senate Ethics Committee.
Booker then admitted to breaking committee rules and called out John Cornyn for threatening the ethics investigation. Booker claims there was a “sham process” going on.
Weds—I broke committee rules by reading from “committee confidential” docs.
Thurs—Cornyn threatened me with expulsion.
He then changed his story & backtracked. Now he’s back at it threatening an ethics investigation b/c we exposed this sham process. https://t.co/FEf4p65iDl
— Cory Booker (@CoryBooker) September 7, 2018
“Weds—I broke committee rules by reading from “committee confidential” docs.
Thurs—Cornyn threatened me with expulsion.
He then changed his story & backtracked. Now he’s back at it threatening an ethics investigation b/c we exposed this sham process.”