(Cornyn acknowledged in a tweet Thursday afternoon that he was unaware of that change when he challenged Booker.)īooker dodged questions of whether he knew about the public release when he spoke Thursday morning, and instead pointed out that he did, in fact, break committee rules on Wednesday night when he read from one of the documents. Bush who handles presidential records, said “we had already told he could use the documents publicly.” Moreover, Bill Burck, a lawyer for George W. “This is no different from the senator deciding to release classified information that is deemed classified by the executive branch because you happen to disagree with the classification decision.”īut in a twist, the Republican side of the committee later disputed the idea that Booker was committing an act of “civil disobedience.” A spokesman for Cornyn said the documents were already cleared for public release at 4:00 a.m., and “the senators were notified of this” ahead of time.
“Running for president is no excuse for violating the rules of the Senate or of confidentiality of the documents that we are privy to,” Cornyn said. The senator is widely viewed as a potential 2020 Democratic presidential contender, and Republicans quickly countered that Booker was simply trying to grab the spotlight in a made-for-TV moment. It takes two-thirds of the Senate for a member to be expelled, so it was highly unlikely that Booker would suffer that fate.
The senator later said he did not believe his action would constitute a violation of the Senate’s rules, but Senate Majority Whip John Cornyn (R-TX) read a rule that states Booker could “suffer expulsion from the body.” “I openly invite and accept the consequences of my team releasing that email right now,” Booker said in reference to a confidential document, adding that those consequences could include “potential ousting from the Senate.”
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