Politics

Elizabeth Warren Doubles Down On Disputed Story Of Losing First Job

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Shelby Talcott Senior White House Correspondent
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Democratic Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren doubled down on a previously disputed story during Tuesday’s debate, claiming again that she lost her first job because she was pregnant.

Warren re-upped her claim after hitting former New York City Mayor Mike Bloomberg over allegations that he once told a pregnant employee to “kill it” – referring to the woman’s unborn baby. The Massachusetts senator said that Bloomberg’s alleged comments are “personal” for her.

“When I was 21 years old, I got my first job as a special education teacher,” Warren said. “I loved that job. And by the end of the first year, I was visibly pregnant.. The principal wished me luck and gave my job to someone else. Pregnancy discrimination, you bet.”

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Bloomberg denied the allegations that he ever told a woman to “kill” her unborn baby, and added that if Warren had been teaching in New York City, she would have never been fired.

“Never said that, and for the record if she was a teacher in New York City she would never have had that problem. We treated our teachers the right way, and the unions will tell you exactly that,” Bloomberg replied.

Warren’s current story about how she was fired from her first job is a far different cry from what she said in 2007. At that time, Warren said she lacked proper credentials to get a permanent teaching position. (RELATED: Elizabeth Warren Compares Scrutiny Of Native American Heritage Claim To Obama Birtherism)

“I did that for a year, and then that summer I didn’t have the education courses, so I was on an ‘emergency certificate,’ it was called. I went back to graduate school and took a couple of courses in education and said, ‘I don’t think this is going to work out for me,'” Warren said during a 2007 interview at the University of California at Berkeley.

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Since being on the campaign trail, Warren has told her pregnancy firing story several times. In addition to her 2007 comments, documents show that Warren resigned from her job in 1971, although she has continued to claim she was fired for being pregnant.