Ahead of Senator Cory Booker’s marathon overnight speech that was still ongoing as of 4 pm Tuesday, one of the Democrat lawmaker’s staffers was arrested for possession of a pistol without a license.
Capitol Police told The Hill in a statement, "Yesterday afternoon a Member of Congress led an IDed staff member around security screening at the Hart Senate Office Building. Later that evening, outside the Senate Galleries, the IDed staff member — who is a retired law enforcement officer — told our officers he was armed."
"The staff member, 59-year-old Kevin A. Batts of New Jersey, was arrested for Carrying a Pistol Without a License. All weapons are prohibited from Capitol Grounds, even if you are a retired law enforcement officer, or have a permit to carry in another state or the District of Columbia."
The arrest reportedly took place at around 6:29 pm on Monday, while Booker began his marathon speech around 30 minutes later. At the start of his speech, Booker said, "These are not normal times in our nation. And they should not be treated as such in the United States Senate. The threats to the American people and American democracy are grave and urgent, and we all must do more to stand against them."
Just before taking to the floor on Monday, Booker wrote on X, "I’ve taken the Senate floor and will speak for as long as I’m physically able to lift the voices of Americans who are being harmed and not being heard in this moment of crisis."
An update posted on Monday morning at 8 am stated, "It’s been over 13 hours since I started speaking, and I intend to stay on the Senate floor as long as I’m physically able. I’m here to do my job, as a Senator from New Jersey, to lift the voices of Americans who are being harmed by President Trump. I'm speaking up."
A White House spokesman told the Washington Post in an email, "Cory Booker is looking for another ‘I am Spartacus’ moment, but that didn’t work for his failed presidential campaign, and it didn’t work to block President Trump’s Supreme Court nominee, Brett Kavanaugh."
As Booker is not aiming to delay passing a bill or confirming a nominee, his speech is not a filibuster. However, fellow Dem Senator Tim Kaine said that Booker’s speech would likely delay a vote on his resolution that would reverse Trump’s tariffs on Canada to Wednesday. Kaine said that despite this, he supports Booker’s effort.
Booker has been allowed brief breaks from speaking while yielding the floor to questions from fellow Democrats in the chamber.
"My efforts today are inadequate to stop what they're trying to do. But we, the people, are powerful. We are strong. We have changed history. We have bent the arc of the moral universe. And now is that moral moment again," Booker said at one point.
At another point, Booker said, "I don’t want a Disney vacation of our history. I don’t want a whitewashed history. I don’t want a homogenized history. Tell me the wretched truth about America because that speaks to our greatness."
