Senator Elizabeth Warren renewed her verbal sparring with presumptive Republican presidential nominee Donald J. Trump Thursday during a speech in Washington, where she called him a “loud, nasty, thin-skinned fraud.’’
Warren addressed the American Constitution Society’s national convention in Washington. She relentlessly attacked Trump, especially for his recent description of a federal judge as biased against him because the US District Court Judge Gonzalo Curiel is of Mexican heritage.
“Judge Curiel is one of countless American patriots who has spent decades quietly serving his country, sometimes at great risk to his own life,’’ Warren said. “Donald Trump is a loud, nasty, thin-skinned fraud who has never risked anything for anyone and serves nobody but himself.’’
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Trump and Warren have waged a verbal battle, often on Twitter, during recent months. Trump has sarcastically called Warren “Pocahontas’’ because she has made unsubstantiated claims of Native American ancestry.
In a speech on the floor of the Senate Wednesday, the Massachusetts Democrat attacked Trump and Republican leaders of Congress, Senator Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and House Speaker Paul Ryan. Warren said McConnell and Ryan are trying to create a judiciary that represents the interests of billionaires, not the majority of Americans.
“Donald Trump chose racism as his weapon, but his aim is exactly the same as the rest of the Republicans,’’ Warren said. “Pound the courts into submission to the rich and powerful.”
Both McConnell and Ryan have faulted Trump for his comments about the judge, but Warren contends they still support Trump and his political agenda. McConnell has refused to allow the Senate to consider President Obama’s Supreme Court nominee, Appeals Court Judge Merrick Garland, until the next president is in office.
“Paul Ryan and Mitch McConnell want Donald Trump to appoint the next generation of judges,’’ Warren said, according to her office. “They want those judges to tilt the law to favor big business and billionaires like Trump. They just want Donald to quit being so vulgar and obvious about it.’’
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Warren said the Republican-led Senate has failed to vote on a total of 15 judicial nominees.
John R. Ellement can be reached at ellement@globe.com. Follow him on Twitter @JREbosglobe.