Kellyanne Conway, the president's top-ranking female adviser, went off on a former Democratic senator this morning for saying that women know to slap on their lipstick before they go to battle against their male colleagues in the Senate.

'Lipstick? Had no idea this is the key to female empowerment and leadership. Imagine if a @GOP had said this,' Conway tweeted in response to Barbara Mikulski's comment on CNN.

Mikulski, a retired Maryland senator, made the remark as she backed up Hillary Clinton, a former New York senator, and Elizabeth Warren, a current Massachusetts lawmaker who Republicans silenced after she spoke out against former Sen. Jeff Sessions.

'Once you're a woman in the Senate, you know that you have to square your shoulders, put your lipstick on, and fight on,' Mikulski stated.

Kellyanne Conway, the president's top-ranking female adviser, went off on a former Democratic senator this morning for saying that women know to slap on their lipstick before they go to battle against their male colleagues in the Senate

Mikulski, a retired Maryland senator, made the remark as she backed up Hillary Clinton, a former New York senator, and Elizabeth Warren, a current Massachusetts lawmaker who Republicans silenced after she spoke out against former Sen. Jeff Sessions, on CNN

The GOP-led Senate voted to rebuke Warren on Tuesday by finding her in violation of a rarely enforced rule that prohibits speakers from impugning another senator after she quoted a letter Coretta Scott King wrote in opposition to Sessions for a federal judgeship in 1986, when he was under fire for alleged racism.

The letter said: 'Mr. Sessions' conduct as a US Attorney, from his politically-motivated voting fraud prosecutions to his indifference toward criminal violations of civil rights laws, indicated that he lacks the temperament, fairness and judgment to be a federal judge.'

Warren read from the document only to be stopped by Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky and rebuffed by her Senate colleagues. She was not allowed to speak from the floor again during the discussion on Sessions' nomination.

Warren has made the most of her situation – racking up online views of her speech that got shut down and rallying fellow Democratic senators to her cause.

Her speech had been viewed 3 million times online Wednesday morning. A new hashtag, #LetLizSpeak, was trending online as the late-night speech and the rare rebuke got broadcast and rebroadcast on cable TV.

Warren ran afoul of the chamber's arcane rules by reading a 30-year-old letter from Dr Martin Luther King's widow, Coretta Scott King (right) that dated to Sen Jeff Sessions' failed judicial nomination three decades ago

Hillary Clinton helped Warren to raise awareness. 'I think Hillary is resting, she's reflecting on what she wants to do. But like once you're a woman in the Senate, you know that you have to square your shoulders, put your lipstick on, and fight on,' Mikulski said in response

Hillary Clinton helped Warren to raise awareness. Clinton shared a video of Warren on her Twitter account, telling her 13.1 million followers in the caption: ' "She was warned. She was given an explanation. Nevertheless, she persisted." So must we all.'

The 'nevertheless, she persisted' portion of the statement came from McConnell's statement on Warren's disobedience. Soon, it too had become a statement of the resistance.

Clinton has made only a handful of public appearances since she lost the presidential election to Trump, though she's been spotted at her local grocery store, at dinner and in the woods by her fans.

In response to New Day's Alisyn Camerota asking if Clinton was 'dipping a toe' into politics with the tweet and plotting her next move, Mikulski made the statement that offended Conway.

'I think Hillary is resting, she's reflecting on what she wants to do. But like once you're a woman in the Senate, you know that you have to square your shoulders, put your lipstick on, and fight on,' the recently retired senator said. 'I believe that Hillary is analyzing how she can once again make best use of her incredible talents, encourage others to be part of the political process...and I was encouraged to hear the tweet.'

Mikulski argued on the program that the measure senators used to punish Warren for speaking harshly on the floor about one of her colleagues, Sessions, the senator from Alabama until he was sworn in this morning as attorney general, is rarely invoked and its use against Warren was unfair.

Quoting King technically put Warren in violation of Senate rules for 'impugning the motives' of Sessions, though senators have said far worse stuff. Sessions was eventually confirmed as attorney general, giving up his Senate seat

The rule was created to stop fist fights in the early days of the Senate, after lawmakers 'had a little too much bourbon, and would say violent vulgar things about each other,' Mikulski stated.

'None of that was occurring - Sen, Warren was reading from a historic record.'

Mikulski wouldn't accuse her former colleagues of outright sexism in response to prodding from Camerota but she said: 'I think whenever women stand up, and particularly reading now a letter from a woman of color, they're told to shut up and sit down.

'And it was inappropriate. They've never used it,' she said.

Generalizing, Mikulski said she sees 'a pattern of behavior' in society. Women who have the same job should be expected to follow the same rules. And yet, she said, 'They're applied differently to us.'

Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham defended his party on Wednesday, saying Warren's slap down was 'long overdue' and she 'is clearly running' for president in 2020.

Mikulski scoffed at him on CNN and accused him of demeaning Warren, who is considered a likely 2020 candidate, in the absence of a justified line of attack.