Politics

MSNBC’s Steve Kornacki: I Don’t Think Elizabeth Warren’s DNA Test ‘Resolves’ This Issue

(Photo: Screenshot/MSNBC)

Joseph Wulfsohn Contributor
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MSNBC national political correspondent Steve Kornacki doesn’t think Democratic Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren is out of the woods just yet over her repeated claims of having Native American heritage.

Kornacki told “11th Hour” anchor Brian Williams that Warren releasing the DNA test this week that concludes potential distant lineage with Native American ancestry “clearly” shows “where her mind is” — on a 2020 presidential run.

“One of the things that’s interesting about this is this tells us something about her own reading of the Democratic base and what the Democratic base is gonna want in terms of a posture towards Donald Trump,” Kornacki said. “It doesn’t want somebody who’s going to listen to Donald Trump saying the things he said about her claims of Native American ancestry and, you know, turn the other cheek and not, you know, let that speak for itself. Her reading of the Democratic base is the idea that they want somebody who is going to try and go right back at him and that’s the kind of campaign that they’re looking for.”

He did note that he didn’t think her response to Trump’s attacks “resolves” the issue for her.

“You’ve got the Cherokee Nation out there, you know, going after Elizabeth Warren saying she’ shouldn’t have done,” Kornacki told Williams. “You’ll certainly have people who say this discredits Donald Trump, but I think this issue is not one that if she goes forward and run and if she gets traction on the Democratic side, I think it’s an issue you’ll still be hearing about in 2020, probably.”