A longtime staffer for Senator Cory Booker (D-NY) was arrested Monday for illegally carrying a firearm on Capitol grounds, according to a statement from U.S. Capitol Police.
The staffer, identified as 59-year-old Kevin A. Batts of New Jersey, was taken into custody after admitting to officers he was armed while inside the Senate office complex. Batts, a retired police detective and currently listed as a “special assistant” to Booker on Legistorm, was charged with carrying a pistol without a license.
“Yesterday afternoon a Member of Congress led an IDed staff member around security screening at the Hart Senate Office Building,” the Capitol Police said in a statement. “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 unfolded just as Sen. Booker was making headlines for his own reasons—delivering an overnight marathon speech railing against President Donald Trump’s policies. While Booker attempted to hold court on the Senate floor, his own staffer was in violation of Capitol security protocols just steps away.
In a statement to Fox News, Booker spokesperson Jeff Giertz said, “Sen. Booker’s office employs a retired Newark police detective as a New Jersey-based driver who often accompanies him to events. We are working to better understand the circumstances around this.”
The arrest adds a new twist to the story of Batts, who has been a visible and trusted member of Booker’s inner circle for nearly two decades. In 2016, Booker posted a video featuring Batts and praised his decades of service, including time in the U.S. Army Reserves and as a Newark police detective.
“Kevin Batts has been a friend and team member since 2006 when I became mayor and even before,” Booker wrote on Instagram. “I so deeply appreciate his steadfast friendship, incredible dedication to Newark and now his service to the state.”
Booker’s admiration didn’t stop there. He gave Batts a public nod during a 2017 commencement speech at the University of Pennsylvania, sharing an anecdote about late-night fast food runs with his driver: “And as I told my driver, an incredible officer named Kevin Batts, retired from the Newark Police Department… I said to him, ‘Kev, we’re almost home but do you mind? We have to swing through the drive-thru.’”
While Capitol Hill is no stranger to arrests, weapons violations remain a top-tier concern for security. Just this past December, another staffer was found carrying high-capacity ammunition magazines, though no firearm was recovered. And in January, Capitol Police detained a man for reckless driving near the Capitol complex.
Now, a high-profile aide to one of the Senate’s most prominent Democrats is at the center of the latest security breach—this time, with a gun.
