Sen. Cory Booker, who has been widely mocked after his "Spartacus" comment during last week's Supreme Court confirmation hearings for Brett Kavanaugh, says he didn't intend the comment, but he has no regrets about making it.
“It doesn’t take away from the larger point and, again, all of this is about the larger point," the New Jersey Democrat, widely seen as a potential 2020 presidential candidate, told The Hill Thursday. "We have documents that have been hidden from the public, that shouldn’t have been hidden from the public."
Booker drew attention during the hearing after announcing he was releasing "committee confidential" records to the public. Doing so, he said, put him at "about the closest I'll probably ever have in my life to an 'I am Spartacus' moment."
As it turns out, a lawyer representing former President George W. Bush's administration had already released the documents, which were from Kavanaugh's time working in the Bush White House.
Justice Clarence Thomas criticized Booker about the Spartacus comment, but Booker declined to respond, saying it's "not even important to me."
Instead, he insisted he is "very grateful" to colleagues who stood up for him, and told The Hill that he can "laugh along with other people. Senators say things all the time that are funny, whatever."
Sandy Fitzgerald ✉
Sandy Fitzgerald has more than three decades in journalism and serves as a general assignment writer for Newsmax covering news, media, and politics.
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