Donald Trump revived his ‘Pocahontas’ taunt at Elizabeth Warren in front of a group of Native Americans
Warren called it "deeply unfortunate" that Trump couldn't make it through an event to "honor heroes" without attacking her with "a racial slur."
President Donald Trump isn’t just attacking Sen. Elizabeth Warren’s brainchild financial watchdog agency this week.
Trump also renewed his derisive attack on Warren’s claims of Native American heritage — and did so during an event Monday intended to honor a group of Native Americans who served the United States military.
“You’re very, very special people,” Trump told three of the 13 surviving Navajo “Code Talkers” of World War II during the event in the Oval Office.
Following the compliment, the president got in a jab at Warren, who he frequently refers to as “Pocahontas,” which some consider a pejorative slur to Native Americans.
“You were here long before any of us were here,” Trump said. “Although we have a representative in Congress who they say was here a long time ago. They call her Pocahontas.”
Warren is a senator, not a representative.
“But you know what, I like you,” Trump continued, patting Peter MacDonald, a 90-year-old former Marine and Navajo leader, on the shoulder. “Because you are special. You are special people.”
Warren responded during an interview Monday afternoon on MSNBC, calling it “deeply unfortunate” that Trump couldn’t make it through an event intended to “honor heroes” without attacking her with a “racial slur.”
WATCH: Elizabeth Warren responds to Trump’s “Pocahontas” remark on @MSNBC:
“It is deeply unfortunate that the President of the United States cannot even make it through a ceremony honoring these heroes without having to throw out a racial slur.” pic.twitter.com/au1QntxDzR
— NBC News (@NBCNews) November 27, 2017
The Massachusetts Democrat also reiterated that she would not be silenced by the oft-repeated nickname.
In a press conference Monday afternoon, White House spokeswoman Sarah Huckabee Sanders said it was a “ridiculous response” to label the “Pocahontas” attack a “racial slur” and that the event itself Monday indicated that the president “finds an extreme amount of value and respect” for the Code Talkers.
“I don’t believe that it is appropriate for him to make a racial slur, or anybody else,” Sanders said. “I don’t think that it is, and I don’t think — that was certainly not the president’s intent.”
Sanders then accused Warren of lying about her Native American heritage “specifically to advance her career.”
Trump first invoked the “Pocahontas” nickname during his 2016 presidential campaign, referring to Warren’s claim that her mother was “part Cherokee and part Delaware.” Warren cited family stories, but has never provided documentation to back up the claim.
However, the Washington Post‘s Fact Checker blog has found no support for the accusations that Warren used her self-proclaimed Native American heritage to gain an unfair advantage in her career, and former colleagues at Harvard Law School have said she was recruited based on the merit of her work in financial law.
Trump’s “Pocahontas” nickname for Warren has been called inappropriate and offensive to Native Americans by a broad range of critics, including members of the indigenous tribes and politicians on both sides of the partisan aisle.
