Sen. Elizabeth Warren may have hoped to finally set aside any uncertainty about her Native American ties by releasing a DNA test on Monday, but President Donald Trump isn’t having it.
First, Trump denied that he ever said he would pay Warren $1 million for taking the test. Then he told the media on Monday afternoon that he would only pay the money if he can “test her personally.” On Tuesday morning, Trump took to Twitter to further negate the veracity of the test in itself.
Calling Warren “Pocahontas (the bad version),” Trump wrote that she is “getting slammed. She took a bogus DNA test and it showed that she may be 1/1024, far less than the average American.”
“Now Cherokee Nation denies her, ‘DNA test is useless.’” he added. “Even they don’t want her. Phony!”
Pocahontas (the bad version), sometimes referred to as Elizabeth Warren, is getting slammed. She took a bogus DNA test and it showed that she may be 1/1024, far less than the average American. Now Cherokee Nation denies her, “DNA test is useless.” Even they don’t want her. Phony!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) October 16, 2018
In a subsequent tweet, Trump noted that Warren’s “claims of being of Indian heritage have turned out to be a scam and lie,” and called on her to “apologize for perpetrating this fraud against the American Public.” He also repeated his claim that Warren used her Native American heritage to become a professor at Harvard Law School, writing, “Harvard called her “a person of color” (amazing con), and would not have taken her otherwise!”
Trump doubled down on the fraudulent character of Warren’s identification with the Cherokee Nation, writing in a third tweet, “Thank you to the Cherokee Nation for revealing that Elizabeth Warren, sometimes referred to as Pocahontas, is a complete and total Fraud!”
The Cherokee Nation did criticize Warren’s use of a DNA test to prove her ancestry in a statement released Monday. Cherokee Nation Secretary of State Chuck Hoskin Jr. wrote that a DNA test is “useless to determine tribal citizenship,” and said that using such a test to “lay claim to any connection” to any tribal nation “is inappropriate and wrong.”
“It makes a mockery out of DNA tests and its legitimate uses while also dishonoring legitimate tribal governments and their citizens, whose ancestors are well documented and whose heritage is proven,” he added.
For her part, Warren did not claim tribal citizenship. In the video she released Monday she acknowledged that only tribes can decide who is a citizen.