Sen. Cory Booker (D-NJ) made a great show of breaking Senate rules on Thursday to release “committee confidential” emails regarding Supreme Court nominee Judge Brett Kavanaugh — but the emails had reportedly already been cleared for release.

Booker, referring to himself as Spartacus — i.e. the slave who led a revolt in ancient Rome, and sacrifices himself in the Hollywood film version of the story — defiantly dared the Senate to oust him for breaking the rules of confidentiality.

SenBooker says this is closest I’ll get to my “I am Spartacus” moment – I’m knowingly violating policy – and to SenCornyn – bring it on. If you think I’m really breaking a Senate rule – I hope you’ll bring charges against me – also against Durbin, Coons, Whitehouse, Hirono, etal — Shannon Bream (@ShannonBream) September 6, 2018

The emails he released included an exchange in which Kavanaugh advised the Bush administration to use “race-neutral” policies in airport security — though Booker spun them to suggest Republicans were trying to keep the emails hidden because of the references to race, implying that Kavanaugh had made racially derogatory or offensive comments in the emails.

So the documents that Cory Booker violated committee rules to release shows that Kavanaugh rejected the use of race or national origin in airport security screening and law enforcement generally in the immediate aftermath of 9/11 https://t.co/aNIkqWeN01 pic.twitter.com/bhyBG17uz2 — Lachlan Markay (@lachlan) September 6, 2018

Later Thursday, Shannon Bream of Fox News reported that the emails had already been cleared for release by the committee at 4:00 a.m. EDT Thursday morning, after Democratic Senators on the committee belatedly asked chairman Chuck Grassley (R-IA) to make them public.

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

Committee communications staffer Garrett Ventry elaborated on Twitter:

Here’s what happened: Last night, Senators Leahy, Coons, Blumenthal and Booker requested that certain “committee confidential” documents be made public for use during the hearing for Judge Kavanaugh. https://t.co/nAmaAI5sxm — Garrett Ventry (@GarrettVentry) September 6, 2018

Chairman Grassley went to bat for them, and worked with the Justice Department and office of former President Bush to waive the relevant statutory restrictions on those documents. Those restrictions were waived before 4:00 AM this morning and made ready for release. — Garrett Ventry (@GarrettVentry) September 6, 2018

In short, Sen. Booker made a scene this morning about committee confidential docs that Chairman Grassley helped make public prior to the hearing today. — Garrett Ventry (@GarrettVentry) September 6, 2018

It is not clear whether Booker knew the documents had already been cleared for release. Other senators, notably Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX), rebuked Booker for what they appeared to believe at the time was a violation of the rules. Cornyn called it “conduct unbecoming of a senator.”

Update: Fox News reported that Booker’s office had been informed that the documents had been cleared before the hearing.

Cornyn told Fox News that he had only learned from Sen. Mike Lee (R-UT) after his exchange with Booker that the documents had already been cleared.

“All of this drama this morning was apparently for nothing, and it’s unfortunate,” he concluded.

Joel B. Pollak is Senior Editor-at-Large at Breitbart News. He is a winner of the 2018 Robert Novak Journalism Alumni Fellowship. He is also the co-author of How Trump Won: The Inside Story of a Revolution, which is available from Regnery. Follow him on Twitter at @joelpollak.