Senate Majority Whip John Cornyn on Wednesday advised Democratic Sen. Cory Booker to "get a grip" after slamming Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh and accusing his supporters of being "complicit in the evil."
"My advice to some of our friends across the aisle who are engaged in this kind of superheated rhetoric, my advice is get a grip," Cornyn, the Texas Republican who is the party's No. 2 member, said in floor speech reported by The Washington Free Beacon.
"Get a grip."
At a Tuesday news conference, Booker, the New Jersey Democrat, bitterly spoke against confirming Kavanaugh, even referencing the Bible in his attack.
President Donald Trump earlier this month nominated Kavanaugh, 53, a federal appellate court judge in Washington, to succeed retiring Justice Anthony Kennedy.
"I'm here to call on folk to understand that in the moral moment, there is no neutral," Booker said at a Capitol Hill news conference, according to a video clip posted on YouTube on Tuesday by the Republican National Committee.
"In a moral moment, there is no bystanders," he continued. "You are either complicit in the evil, you are either contributing to the wrong, or you are fighting against it."
Booker then referenced Psalm 23 from the Old Testament.
"We are walking through the valley of the shadow of death," he said. "But that doesn't say, 'Though I sit in the valley of the shadow of death.'
"I am calling on everyone right now who understands what's at stake, who understands who Kavanaugh is," Booker added. "If someone shows you who they are, believe them the first time.
"He has shown us who he is."
On the Senate floor, Cornyn said Wednesday: "It's hard to take statements like that seriously.
"To me, that's completely unhinged and detached from any reality."
He later told The Washington Post that Booker's comments were "pretty apocalyptic."
"What in the world?" Cornyn asked in a brief interview. "[Booker] needs to get a grip.
"Everybody's trying to outdo everybody else."
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