WASHINGTON — U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Warren, of Massachusetts, was told — in polite terms — to sit down and shut up on the U.S. Senate floor on Tuesday night as she attempted to read a letter written by civil rights icon Coretta Scott King in 1986, according to The New York Times.
Warren, a Democrat, attempted to read King’s letter — which accused Alabama U.S. Sen. Jeff Sessions of using his power as a federal prosecutor to intimidate elderly black voters — during debate about whether Sessions should become U.S. Attorney General for the Trump administration.
House Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, of Kentucky, invoked a rare rule that prevents senators from speaking ill of each other on the floor, according to the Times.
“She was warned,” McConnell said of Warren. “She was given an explanation. Nevertheless, she persisted.”
Two male U.S. senators, Democrats Sen. Sherrod Brown of Ohio and Sen. Jeff Merkley, of Oregon, later quoted from the letter on the floor of the U.S. Senate, according to reports.
The social media outrage over the incident was swift and damning. Messages of female empowerment took off under the hashtag #LetLizSpeak.
Check out the response below:
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