In a move reminiscent of Charlie Murphy’s “Rick James True Hollywood Story,” Sen. Cory Booker (D-NJ) asked Brett Kavanaugh: “What did the five fingers say to the face?” and slapped Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) squarely in the mouth before breaking Senate rules by releasing Kavanaugh’s confidential documents to the public.
In the third day of hearings for Supreme Court Justice nominee Brett M. Kavanaugh, Booker questioned a decision by Grassley, the chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, to label some of Kavanaugh’s background documents as “committee confidential,” according to the Washington Post.
The designation meant that the public could not see the 147,000 pages of documents that gave insight to Kavanaugh’s time as George W. Bush’s White House lawyer. Booker and Democrats were frustrated by the late dump of 400,000 pages that Grassley released just days just before Kavanaugh’s confirmation hearings, giving Senators no time to thoroughly examine them.
“We had a number of those documents released to us the night before,” said Booker. “I brought up a document entitled ‘Racial profiling’ ... And the fact that. there’s nothing in that document that’s personal information. There’s nothing national security-related. The fact that it was labeled committee confidential exposes that this process, sir, is a bit of a sham.”
Grassley and other Senate Republicans chided Booker’s questions as “inappropriate.”
Until Booker pulled a Suge Knight-like move that might stand as one of the greatest gangsta moves in Senate history.
“I’m going to release the email about racial profiling. And I understand the penalty comes with potential ousting from the Senate,” said Booker. “And if Senator Cornyn believes that I have violated Senate Rules, I openly invite and accept the consequences.”
Then, like Rick James on Eddie Murphy’s brand new sofa, Cory Booker basically said “Fuck yo couch, Senate!” and released the confidential emails to the public.
What happened next was epic.
Other Democratic senators began releasing emails they thought the public had a right to see. Sen. Mazie Hirono (D-HI) released a chain of emails that showed Kavanaugh debating whether Native Hawaiians should have the same protections as Native American tribes.
Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) read an email aloud that appeared to show that Kavanaugh did not think Roe v Wade was “settled law,” as he has previously asserted.
Minority leader Chuch Schumer (D-NY) (who is neither a minority or a leader) tweeted his support:
Pushed into a corner, Chuck Grassley buckled like a five-dollar belt and released an additional trove of documents, including the ones released by Booker, Talking Points Memo confirmed.
But Booker later ruined his glory when he said, “This is the closest I’ll ever have in my life to an ‘I am Spartacus’ moment,” reports the Washington Post.
I know he’s a well-recognized cornball, but he’s from Newark! Brick City! Booker could have at least called it his New Jack City or “Nino Brown moment,” because he basically told Chuck Grassley and the entire Republican Congress to sit their five dollar asses down before he decides to make change.
Or just before the recess, Booker should have stood up and proclaimed: