Cory Booker breaks record with 25-hour speech against Donald Trump: Who is he?

Democrat Cory Booker set a record on Tuesday for the longest speech in Senate history after speaking for more than 24 hours, in an attempt to disrupt the normal business of the Senate to protest the “grave and urgent” danger of Donald Trump’s presidential administration.

Booker took to the Senate floor Monday evening, saying he would remain there as long as he was “physically able.” More than 24 hours later, the 55-year-old senator was still going. He concluded his speech denouncing the Trump administration 25 hours and five minutes after he began speaking.

As he approached a full day of speaking, Booker had begun to stumble slightly in his speech, but was still on his feet, making sweeping gestures as he spoke, the Guardian reported.

It was a remarkable show of stamina as Democrats try to show their frustrated supporters that they are doing everything possible to contest Trump’s agenda.

Booker ended his 25-hour speech on the Senate floor, breaking the record set in 1957 by right-wing Republican and segregationist Strom Thurmond in a speech opposing the Civil Rights Act.

Thurmond filibustered for 24 hours and 18 minutes against the Civil Rights Act of 1957, according to the Senate’s records.

Who is Cory Booker?

Cory Booker is a Democrat and US Senate from New Jersey.

According to his website, Cory grew up in northern New Jersey and received his undergraduate and master’s degree from Stanford University.

He was awarded a Rhodes Scholarship and went on to study at the University of Oxford, and then Yale Law School, where he graduated in 1997.

As per the website, Cory served as Newark mayor from 2006 until 2013. In October 2013, Cory won a special election to represent New Jersey in the US Senate. In November 2014, he was re-elected to a full six-year term.

What did Cory Booker say?

Democratic US Senator Cory Booker accused President Donald Trump of "recklessly" challenging the nation's democratic institutions.

He criticised the crusade by the Republican president and his billionaire top adviser Elon Musk to slash large swaths of the federal government, AP reported.

"Our institutions are being recklessly and unconstitutionally attacked and even shattered," said Booker, who was first elected to the Senate in 2013.

"I'm not here because of his speech. I'm here despite his speech. I'm here because as powerful as he was, the people are more powerful," he said.

‘I may be tired’

Soon after the 25-hour speech, Cory Booker took to social media platform X to say, “I may be tired and a little hoarse, but as I said again and again on the Senate floor, this is a moment where we cannot afford to be silent, when we must speak up.”

“What’s most clear to me tonight is that this is just the beginning, that Americans across this country, no matter their title or party, are ready to be heard,” Booker said.

He added, “I believe that history will show we rose to meet this moment. It will show we did not let the chaos and division go unanswered. It will show that when our president chose to spread lies and sow fear, we chose to come together, to work together, and to rise together.”

Trump's tariff

Cory Booker's speech came as Trump is promising to roll out a set of tariffs, or taxes on imports from other countries, on April 2 that he says will free the US from a reliance on foreign goods. To do this, Trump has said he’ll impose “reciprocal” tariffs to match the duties that other countries charge on US products.