Earlier today 2020 presidential candidate and New Jersey Democrat Senator Cory Booker made quite the scene at Judge Brett Kavanaugh's confirmation hearing.

Daring Republicans to expel him from the Senate, Booker vowed to knowingly break Senate rules by releasing confidential Committee documents and accused Kavanaugh of having something to hide.

DOCUMENTS:

--Rs say the "committee confidential" docs were cleared for release before 4 a.m.

--Ds say the docs were cleared for release at about 10:31 a.m. this morning

--REGARDLESS, they were cleared for public release before Booker and Hirono posted them on their websites. — Seung Min Kim (@seungminkim) September 6, 2018

But it turns out the documents Booker "heroically" released, even saying this was his "Spartacus moment," had already been cleared for publication at 4 a.m. this morning.

Therefore, he didn't actually break any rules. He was simply grandstanding.

So, now we're being told (by Committee staffers) that SenBooker knew BEFORE he made these statements - that the documents in question had already been cleared for release. That's a significant claim to make, so I've asked his office directly. Will update if/when I get response. https://t.co/lNxx3wEVCZ — Shannon Bream (@ShannonBream) September 6, 2018

Others were cleared last night.

NEW statement from Bill Burck, GWB’s records representative who led the review of Kavanaugh’s records pic.twitter.com/6MQSbgB1ub — Seung Min Kim (@seungminkim) September 6, 2018

DOCUMENTS:

--Rs say the "committee confidential" docs were cleared for release before 4 a.m.

--Ds say the docs were cleared for release at about 10:31 a.m. this morning

--REGARDLESS, they were cleared for public release before Booker and Hirono posted them on their websites. — Seung Min Kim (@seungminkim) September 6, 2018

Further, it takes 2/3 of the Senate to expel a Senator. Booker knew going into this morning's hearing that would never happen and made his statements anyway.

Booker's grandstanding fell apart faster than his story about his non-existent friend "T-Bone."