Cory Booker says he will 'knowingly violate' Senate rules and release Brett Kavanaugh email

Source: Washington Examiner | September 6, 2018 | Kelly Cohen

Sen. Cory Booker said he is prepared to “knowingly violate” Senate rules and release an email from Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh.

Booker, D-N.J., said during Thursday’s Senate Judiciary Committee hearing that it is “civil disobedience” that the email from when he served as a lawyer for former President George W. Bush is not available for the public.

The email with the subject line “racial profiling,” Booker said, shows that Kavanaugh was sympathetic to racial profiling by police.

“I knowingly violated the rules that were put forth,” Booker said of his handling of committee confidential information.

“If Sen. Cornyn believes I violated Senate rules, I openly invite and accept the consequences of my team releasing that email right now,” he added — which he said includes expulsion from the Senate. “The emails being withheld from the public have nothing to do with national security.”

Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, chastised Booker for announcing the release of the document: “Running for president is no excuse for violating the rules of the Senate.”

Booker spokesman Jeff Giertz told the Washington Examiner that the records are not classified.

Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley has designated roughly 141,000 pages of documents from Kavanaugh’s record as “committee confidential” which means senators can see them, but they can’t be made public and used by lawmakers during Kavanaugh’s confirmation hearing.

Booker’s Democratic colleagues stood in support of his decision: Dianne Feinstein of California, Dick Durbin of Illinois, Mazie Hirono of Hawaii and Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota.

Booker said he would not be violating rules because there is no Senate rule — but Cornyn read Senate rule 29.5 that he says allows expulsion for releasing committee confidential documents.

Booker replied: “Bring the charges.”

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