The Republican National Committee is poking fun at Sen. Elizabeth Warren’s absence from the National Congress of American Indians Tribal Summit in Washington — asking where is “FAUXCAHONTAS.”
Ms. Warren’s claims of Native American ancestry without solid evidence has dogged the Massachusetts Democrat since her successful 2012 Senate bid and provided ammunition for President Trump to mock her on various occasions as “Pocahontas.”
Mike Reed, a research director at the RNC, noted that several members of Congress — including House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, as well as Sens. Lisa Murkowski of Alaska and Heidi Heitkamp of North Dakota — are set to speak at the summit, which kicked off Monday and runs through Thursday.
“Notably absent from the list is the only current U.S. Senator who has claimed minority status as a Native American, Elizabeth Warren,” Mr. Reed wrote in an email blast. “To this day, Warren claims to be ’proud’ of her Native American heritage and speaks of how her family ’spoke more forcefully than ever about the importance of not forgetting our Native American roots.’”
Mr. Reed surmised that Ms. Warren is not attending because she doesn’t want to address the issue, and included a link to a story in the Boston Globe last month that said the issue could trip up Ms. Warren as she lays the groundwork for a presidential run in 2020.
The report said Ms. Warren’s claim is based on family lore and that in 1984 she contributed five recipes to a Native American cookbook called “Pow Wow Chow: A Collection of Recipes From Families of The Five Civilized Tribes: Cherokee, Chickasaw, Choctaw, Creek, and Seminole” and that she was identified in the book as “Elizabeth Warren, Cherokee.”
Ms. Warren also identified as a minority in the Association of American Law Schools director from 1986 to 1995, according to various reports.
She is seeking re-election to her Senate seat this fall and if elected is widely expected to then turn her attention to a presidential run.
• Seth McLaughlin can be reached at smclaughlin@washingtontimes.com.
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