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After Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell refused to allow Massachusetts Senator Elizabeth Warren read a letter by Coretta Scott King – which had prevented Jeff Sessions, now Attorney General, from being appointed a federal judge in 1986 – on the Senate floor on Tuesday, he inadvertently gave birth to an online movement for women’s empowerment, labelled #ShePersisted.

“She was warned. She was given an explanation. Nevertheless, she persisted,” McConnell said, referencing Warren’s interruption earlier in the night by Senator Steve Daines, who had informed Warren that the letter was a violation of the rules of the Senate as it was “impugning” another senator, despite the fact that it had been admitted into the record beforehand.

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tap here to see other videos from our team. Try refreshing your browser, or 'I hope everybody reads that letter': Elizabeth Warren talks to Trevor Noah about Coretta Scott King's letter Back to video

On Wednesday’s Daily Show, host Trevor Noah took a shot at the incident, beginning the segment with an impression of McConnell, saying, “You said I couldn’t stand up to Donald Trump, and I couldn’t, but I’ll stand up to Dr. King’s dead widow.”

“This is the absurdity of the Senate,” he continued, taking a more serious tone. “Mitch McConnell is attacking Elizabeth Warren for attacking the integrity of Alabama senator and attorney general nominee Jeff Sessions only because she’s reading a letter that Dr King’s wife wrote criticizing Sessions blocking black people’s voting rights. And that is apparently against the rules. So basically the way it works in the Senate then is a senator can do bad things, but you can’t point out that a senator is doing bad things, which sounds less like the government and more like the Catholic church.”