Sen. John Thune said Wednesday morning that Senate Republicans were right in their vote to cut off Democratic Sen. Elizabeth Warren.
The South Dakota Republican made the comments on MSNBC's "Morning Joe."
A vote prevented Warren from speaking during the remainder of debate about attorney general nominee Sen. Jeff Sessions, after she said Sessions would not stand up to Trump's "campaign of bigotry." She attempted to read from Coretta Scott King's 1986 letter that rebuked Sessions.
"It was a clear violation of the rules. Rules say ‘directly or indirectly impugning the character or conduct of another colleague,' and she clearly had done that. She crossed that line," Thune said about the Massachusetts senator.
"The Senate's a place where collegiality is supposed to rule. There are rules. We're supposed to abide by those rules. If those rules are not adhered to, people need to be called out," Thune said. "She had been warned before."
Thune defended Sessions, saying, "he's a man of absolute integrity."
"The Senate is a collegial place, but most of us like to think of it as we're all part of a team. And when one of your team members gets attacked, you typically defend them, and that's simply what happened last night."
"Morning Joe" cohost Mike Brzezinski asked how her reading of the letter was a violation.
Language in the letter was a "direct attack," Thune said, adding, "I don't believe there was any question that it was a violation of the rules."
The senator commented on the atmosphere in the Senate, saying that it had deteriorated during his career. "Right now is especially bad. Politics is always with us now. I am hoping things are going to normalize," he said.
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