Sean Spicer has some alternative Coretta Scott King facts for critics of Jeff Sessions

Impact

White House press secretary Sean Spicer on Wednesday resorted to an alternative perspective on how the late Coretta Scott King, civil rights activist and Martin Luther King Jr.'s wife, would feel about Alabama Sen. Jeff Sessions' nomination to serve as attorney general in President Donald Trump's administration.

"I can only hope that if Coretta Scott King was still with us that she would support Sen. Sessions' nomination," Spicer said, according to the New York Daily News' Cameron Joseph.

According to Fox News' Chad Bergram, Spicer added Sessions "stood up for Coretta Scott King. He's been a tireless advocate of voting and civil rights."

But, in her own words, King was quite clear about her thoughts on Sessions: She thought he was "reprehensible" and essentially a racist.

In a 1986 letter opposing Sessions' nomination for the federal judiciary, she wrote of his record as a U.S. attorney for the Southern District of Alabama: "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."

Spicer's reinterpretation of King's opinion comes less than 24 hours after Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell censored Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren's attempt to read the letter amid Sessions' ongoing attorney general confirmation hearings.

While some GOP operatives told BuzzFeed McConnell was attempting to outmaneuver Democrats politically, others currently believe the incident has backfired.