After being disgracefully silenced by Mitch McConnell and Senate Republicans yesterday by invoking an obscure Senate rule, Elizabeth Warren took to Facebook to read the rest of her remarks live, explaining that,
“Tonight, I wanted to read that letter and Senator Mitch McConnel and the Republicans came to the floor to shut me down for reading that letter. So right now, what I’d like to do outside the Senate, I just want to read the letter.”
This is what Republicans did not want to hear, because this is how they intend to behave under Trump going forward. Correta Scott King wrote:
“Anyone who has used the power of his office as a United States Attorney to intimdate and chill the free exercise of the ballot by citizens should not be elevated to our courts. Mr. Sessions has used the awesome powers of his office in a shabby attempt to intimidate and frighten elderly black voters. For this reprehensible conduct, he should not be rewarded with a federal judgeship.”
Or, needless to say, with the position and awesome power of the Attorney General of the United States.
McConnell’s actions in stripping Warren of her right to free speech on the Senate floor earned him wide-spread condemnation and the hashtag #LetLizSpeak took off on Twitter. As Rep. Jim McGovern (D-MA) tweeted,
“Senate GOP has now ruled that any Democrat who criticizes Sessions’ record will be stripped of right to speak. It’s outrageous.”
Warren herself tweeted,
Tonight @SenateMajLdr silenced Mrs King’s voice on the Sen floor – & millions who are afraid & appalled by what’s happening in our country.
— Elizabeth Warren (@SenWarren) February 8, 2017
In defense of their deplorable treatment of Warren, Orrin Hatch told NBC News that speaking the truth is no excuse:
“Even if what she said was true, it wasn’t the right thing to do.”
That’s right: speaking the truth is not the right thing to do. From the GOP’s own mouths to your ears.
Are you listening, America?