Martin Luther King Jnr's niece has accused Senator Elizabeth Warren of 'playing the race card' in her attempt to criticize Jeff Sessions on the floor of the Senate.

Dr Alveda King, who is an evangelical preacher and former Georgia state representative, said she would pray that Sessions and Warren would be able to heal their differences.

Dr King, whose father AD King was the slain civil rights leader's brother, publicly supported Donald Trump in the run up to last year's presidential election.

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Dr Alveda King, niece of Martin Luther King, accused Senator Elizabeth Warren of 'playing the race card' by trying to read her a letter written by her uncle's widow Coretta Scott King, which lobbied against Jeff Sessions being made a federal judge in the 1980s into the senate record

Senator Elizabeth Warren attempted to read a letter written about Senator Jeff Sessions written by Coretta Scott King 30 years ago to stop him being appointed a federal judge into the Senate record but was blocked by majority leader Mitch McConnell

Jeff Sessions, pictured, faced criticism over his time as attorney general in Alabama

Senator Mitch McConnell, pictured, blocked Warren from continuing with her letter

King revealed on MLK Day that she had voted for Trump.

On Tuesday evening, Warren tried to read out a letter written by Coretta Scott King, the preacher's widow, which was highly critical of Sessions, but was blocked by the Republican majority led by Mitch McConnell.

Warren later explained her decision. She said: 'This is about Coretta Scott King’s letter and that’s all this is about. She wrote a powerful letter about an important moment in history that directly involved Jeff Sessions and is directly relevant to the question of whether Jeff Sessions ought to be the attorney general of the United States - and Mitch McConnell didn’t want me to read that letter.'

Responding to Warren's criticisms of Sessions, King told Fox Business Network's Neil Cavuto: 'In that letter [Coretta Scott King] would be referring to some of [Jeff Sessions'] comments. However, she would agree today that he of course ended some [school segregation and] he worked to prosecute members of the KKK.

'It’s almost like a bait and switch, stir up the emotions, in the name of King - and my name is Alveda King… play the race card, which she was attempting to do.

'We are taking a look at many things that Mrs. Coretta Scott King said, Martin Luther King Jr, my daddy A.D. King. But our family - we are peacemakers, we bring people together… we do not divide people.'