Sen. Tom Cotton Tuesday ripped Democratic Sen. Cory Booker for his plans to testify Wednesday against the nomination of Sen. Jeff Sessions as attorney general — calling it a "disgraceful breach of custom."
"I'm very disappointed that Senator Booker has chosen to start his 2020 presidential campaign by testifying against Senator Sessions," the Arkansas Republican wrote on Facebook. "This disgraceful breach of custom is especially surprising since Senator Booker just last year said he was 'honored to have partnered with Senator Sessions' on a resolution honoring civil-rights marchers."
Booker, 47, a New Jersey Democrat who was first elected in 2012, called his opposition to the nomination "a call to conscience" over concerns about Sessions' civil rights records.
Rarely does a sitting senator testify against a colleague nominated to a Cabinet post.
In addition, Rep. John Lewis, 76, a Georgia Democrat and an icon of the Civil Rights Movement, also plans to testify against Sessions.
Booker's office also said that Louisiana Democratic Rep. Cedric Richmond, 43, chairman of the Congressional Black Caucus who was first elected in 2010, also would appear against Sessions.
"Senator Booker says he feels compelled to speak out because Senator Sessions wants to keep criminals behind bars, drugs off our streets, and amnesty from becoming law," Cotton, 39, who began his first term in 2015, said on Facebook. "He's welcome to oppose these common-sense policies and vote against Senator Sessions' nomination, but what is so unique about those views to require his extraordinary testimony?
"Nothing," he said. "This hearing simply offers a platform for his presidential aspirations.
"Senator Booker is better than that, and he knows better."
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