Sen. Elizabeth Warren defended herself on Wednesday, saying statements about Sen. Jeff Sessions that earned her a rebuke from Republicans Tuesday are relevant to whether Mr. Sessions should be the next attorney general.
“I just went to the Senate floor to do what I was supposed to do, and that is debate the nomination of Jeff Sessions to be the attorney general of the United States,” Ms. Warren, Massachusetts Democrat, said on MSNBC.
She said she wanted to talk about the facts and read a letter from Coretta Scott King, the late wife of Martin Luther King Jr. Ms. King wrote a letter when Mr. Sessions had been up for a federal judgeship that accused him of working to intimidate elderly black voters.
Ms. Warren acknowledged getting warned previously when she quoted the late Sen. Edward M. Kennedy criticizing Mr. Sessions.
“But I just want to say on both of these: highly relevant to the question of whether Jeff Sessions should be attorney general of the United States, and I thought it was entirely appropriate to be citing a revered member of the United States Senate on the floor of the Senate,” she said.
She said she hopes everyone reads Ms. King’s letter.
“The facts may hurt, but we’re not in the United States Senate to ignore facts,” she said.
Republicans voted to rebuke Ms. Warren on Tuesday and prevent her from speaking on the floor, saying she impugned the character of a fellow senator in violation of chamber rules.
Other Democrats have read the letter from Ms. King on the Senate floor since Ms. Warren was punished without objections from the GOP.
• David Sherfinski can be reached at dsherfinski@washingtontimes.com.
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