On Thursday, Democratic Senator Cory Booker released a new set of “confidential” documents pertaining to Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh’s political work for former President George W. Bush.
The senator also released two batches of emails from Kavanaugh’s time as a White House lawyer, marked “committee confidential” due to which they cannot be discussed or released publicly, but rather only by the Senate Judiciary Committee.
“Here are two additional ‘committee confidential’ documents that have been kept out of public view until now,” Booker wrote in a tweet announcing the latest release of the emails.
The “committee confidential” classification of the documents remains in place, said a spokesman for Senator Chuck Grassley. The tranche of documents released by Booker yesterday morning had been cleared for public release hours before the hearing started, according to Republican aides and Bill Burck, a lawyer for Bush.
Booker had previously warned that he would release “confidential” information, saying that the document process set up by Republicans on the Judiciary Committee is a “sham.”
“The American people regardless of your political perspective should be outraged that we have a process that is keeping critical documents hidden from the rest of the American public,” he told reporters in defense of his decision.
GOP senators maintained Booker’s actions broke Senate rules, arguing they were only intended to bolster his potential 2020 White House ambitions.
“Running for president is no excuse for violating the rules of the Senate,” Senator John Cornyn said to Booker. “I’d encourage our colleagues to avoid the temptation to either violate the Senate rules or to treat the witness unfairly.”
Senator Kamala Harris, another potential 2020 presidential candidate, claimed Kavanaugh was withholding information on purpose. She asked Kavanaugh if he had ever discussed Mueller or his Russia probe with anyone at Kasowitz Benson Torres law firm, which formerly represented President Donald Trump, saying she had “reliable information” he had such a conversation.
When asked again if he had ever discussed the issue with lawyers at the firm, Kavanaugh replied “no.” Other senators pressed the Supreme Court nominee on the same issue, Fox News reports.
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