Sen. Elizabeth Warren's silencing 'was long overdue,' says Sen. Lindsey Graham

Updated

Sen. Lindsey Graham says the silencing of Sen. Elizabeth Warren during her reading a Coretta Scott King letter on the Senate floor "was long overdue."

Warren was interrupted on Tuesday night when Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell took issue with a speech she was giving in opposition to then attorney general nominee Sen. Jeff Sessions.

McConnell objected to Warren quoting a letter by Martin Luther King Jr.'s widow Coretta Scott King from 1986 when Sessions was under consideration for a federal judgeship, and invoked Rule XIX -- which in part says, "No Senator in debate shall, directly or indirectly, by any form of words impute to another Senator or to other Senators any conduct or motive unworthy or unbecoming a Senator."

RELATED: Reactions to Elizabeth Warren being barred from speaking

"The bottom line is, it was long overdue with her," Graham said on Wednesday during the Mike Gallagher Show on Wednesday. "I mean, she is clearly running for the nomination in 2020."

"The Democratic Party is being pushed really hard by the most extreme voices in their community, and they just don't know how to handle it. If they empower her, then I think the Democratic Party is gonna lose way with the vast majority of the American people," Graham added.

SEE ALSO: Coretta Scott King's 1986 letter opposing Jeff Sessions' nomination for federal judge: Full text

Republican senators on Tuesday night voted to silence Warren after she began reading a 1986 letter from Coretta Scott King opposing Sessions' nomination to be a federal judge. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) invoked a rule that bars senators from disparaging a colleague on the Senate floor.

The senate confirmed Jeff Sessions on Wednesday as U.S. attorney general under President Trump. He is expected to be officially sworn in on Thursday.

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