After being silenced by Senate Republicans, Sen. Elizabeth Warren continued urging her colleagues to read Coretta Scott King’s 30-year-old letter opposing Jeff Sessions — saying she sees King’s concerns that Sessions fought against civil rights as “directly relevant” today.
“Yes,” Warren flatly told CNN’s Manu Raju on Wednesday when asked whether she believes Sessions would discriminate as President Donald Trump’s attorney general. “I believe the facts show that is exactly what he did.”
Her comments came as the Senate prepares to vote Wednesday to confirm Sessions, an Alabama senator, as attorney general.
Warren, a Massachusetts Democrat, was ruled in violation of Senate rules for impugning another senator late Tuesday night after reading a letter from the widow of Martin Luther King Jr., opposing Sessions’ 1986 nomination for a federal judgeship. King had cited Sessions’ civil rights record.
“It is a powerful and moving letter, and it speaks to a moment in history in the 1960s, a moment in history in the 1980s, and a moment in history right now in 2017,” Warren said.
She said Democrats are intent on showing that Trump’s Cabinet nominees’ records run counter to his campaign pledges.
“We may not have the votes to stop him,” Warren said, “but we sure as hell need to make it clear to the Republicans and to the American people exactly who Donald Trump is putting in charge of our government.”
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Kentucky, silenced Warren, saying: “She was warned. She was given an explanation. Nevertheless, she persisted.”
The line became an instant rallying point for liberals — a galvanizing moment weeks after the women’s marches across the nation against Trump, and one that featured a male leader of the Senate shutting up a female member.
Decorum historically rules the day in the Senate — but Democrats quickly pointed out that Republicans like Texas Sen. Ted Cruz hadn’t faced similar rebukes when Cruz accused McConnell of lying on the Senate floor.
When asked whether she thought she was contributing to tension and partisanship in the chamber, Warren responded that she was doing her job.
“I don’t think voters are asking us to ignore facts.”
There’s the added reality that Warren was lambasting a Cabinet nominee for a President known for his personal attacks an insults — such as “Lyin’ Ted” Cruz, “Little Marco” Rubio, “low-energy” Jeb Bush and during a presidential debate calling Hillary Clinton “such a nasty woman.”
Warren said her first rebuke came with a warning from McConnell as she read the comments of former Massachusetts Sen. Ted Kennedy, a liberal lion who opposed Sessions’ nomination for the federal judgeship in the 1980s.
“I was moving on to talk about the facts of what Jeff Sessions had done when he prosecuted civil rights workers who were trying to help black citizens vote. I thought Coretta Scott King’s letter to the United States Senate about that was absolutely relevant,” she said.
Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders tweeted that McConnell owed Warren an apology.
“This is up to Sen. McConnell,” Warren said. “He’s the one who shut me up.”