Elizabeth Warren Reportedly Deleted Tweet Showing DNA Test Results
Democratic presidential candidate Elizabeth Warren has reportedly deleted the tweet that announced the results of her DNA test. The Massachusetts Senator, who, over the course of her career, claimed to possess Native American heritage, was revealed in a study by Stanford University professor Carlos Bustamante to possess between 1/64 to 1/1024 Native American ancestry, FOX News reports.
“My family (including Fox News-watchers) sat together and talked about what they think of @realDonaldTrump’s attacks on our heritage. And yes, a famous geneticist analyzed my DNA and concluded that it contains Native American ancestry,” Warren wrote in the now-deleted tweet, per The New York Post.
The deletion was reportedly discovered by right-wing columnist Jim Treacher as he wrote an article wishing the test a happy anniversary.
Per The Washington Times, Warren spoke to David Axelrod on CNN’s The Axe Files and admitted that she shouldn’t have identified as a Native American during her academic career, referencing her 1986 State Bar of Texas registration card, which listed her as Native American.
“Why did you check those boxes, because obviously, that’s a very small part of your lineage? 1/32nd or something, so why did you do it?” Axelrod asked, adding that the university “used” Warren “for their own purposes.”
In response, Warren admitted that she “shouldn’t have done it.”
“I’m not a person of color,” she said, admitting that she’s not a citizen of a tribe but that she does try to “be a good friend of Native Americans.”
The Cherokee Nation said Warren’s DNA test “dishonors legitimate tribal governments and citizens whose ancestors are well documented and whose heritage is proven. Senator Warren is undermining tribal interests with her continued claims of tribal heritage” pic.twitter.com/5P28gE2sHC
— Benny Johnson (@bennyjohnson) October 14, 2019
Warren has also received heat for reportedly taking donations from more than 30 billionaires over the course of her political career, which critics suggest conflicts with her campaign’s focus on taking on Wall Street. But supporters believe Warren is right to change the system from the inside and believe the criticism of her past is unwarranted.
RNC spokesman Steve Guest attacked Warren as a fraud for her comments about saying no to billionaires in favor of grassroots support, as well as her controversial claims of Native American ancestry.
The Warren campaign’s endorsement from the progressive Working Families Party (WFP), which endorsed Bernie Sanders in 2016, has also raised eyebrows. In particular, the WFP is alleged to have received money from the thinktank Demos — which Warren’s daughter is reportedly chairwoman of — before its endorsement. According to Jordan Chariton, the journalist and CEO of Status Coup who broke the story, the donations were intended to be a signal that WFP will continue to receive money if the party supports Warren’s campaign.
