Democratic Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren says the DNA test she took to prove her aboriginal ancestry was about restoring “confidence” in government.
As the Associated Press reports, when Warren was asked Sunday at a senatorial debate about her motivation for seeking DNA findings after she said she wouldn’t bother, she cited lowering public trust in government and suggested, “I believe one way that we try to rebuild confidence is through transparency.”
Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) speaks during the Democratic Policy and Communications Committee hearing in the Capitol building on July 19, 2017 in Washington, DC. (Photo by Joe Raedle/Getty Images)
Warren released the results of her DNA test last week and although some media outlets heralded the results as a confirmation of her oft-cited Native origins, it was soon revealed that the conclusions made her only remotely a descendent of First Nations people, with the Cherokee Nation Leader critical of the test. President Donald Trump has repeatedly derided Warren as a phony, calling her “Pocahontas.” (RELATED: Does Elizabeth Warren Have Statistically Less Native American Blood Than The Average White American?)
Warren’s opponent in the Senate race said she has been fixated on Native ancestry as a means of promoting her political success.
“[It’s] not about Sen. Warren’s ancestry, it’s about integrity in my mind,” AP reports Republican Mass. state Rep. Geoff Diehl as saying. “And I don’t care whether you think you benefited or not from that claim, it’s the fact that you tried to benefit from that claim that I think bothers a lot of people and it’s something you haven’t been able to put to rest since the 2012 campaign.”
U.S. President Donald Trump (R) greets members of the Native American code talkers on Nov. 27, 2017 in Washington, DC. Trump stated, “You were here long before any of us were here. Although we have a representative in Congress who they say was here a long time ago. They call her Pocahontas.” (Photo by Oliver Contreras-Pool/Getty Images)
Diehl said Warren’s ambitions are all focused on a potential presidential campaign in 2020 and not about remaining a senator from Massachusetts. (RELATED: Poll: Majority Of State Voters Don’t Want Elizabeth Warren To Run For President)
“I don’t care what percentage she claims to be Native American, I just care that I’m 100 percent for Massachusetts and will be working for the people of this state,” Diehl said, noting “[Warren’s] been campaigning in states that are more important to her than Massachusetts.”