Elizabeth Warren Releases DNA Test on Ancestry

Stanford expert sees 'strong evidence' senator has Native American ancestry
By John Johnson,  Newser Staff
Posted Oct 15, 2018 6:32 AM CDT
Elizabeth Warren Releases DNA Test on Ancestry
Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., speaks during a town hall-style gathering in Woburn, Ma.   (AP Photo/Charles Krupa, File)

Elizabeth Warren has just made her strongest move yet to rebut President Trump's frequent mocking of her as "Pocahontas." The Massachusetts senator released the results of a DNA test to the (subscription-only) Boston Globe that finds "strong evidence" she has at least some Native American ancestry. Renowned Stanford expert Carlos D. Bustamante found that the "vast majority" of Warren's lineage can be traced to Europe, but he said the test "strongly supports" the notion that the Oklahoma native has a Native American ancestor going back six to 10 generations. The newspaper notes that the results, however, could provide ammunition for both Warren's supporters and her critics.

On the plus side for her, the results sync with Warren's previous explanation that her family lore speaks of a great-great-great grandmother who was part Native American. That would make her 1/64th Native American. But if the ancestor goes back further, to 10 generations, that would make Warren just 1/1,024th Native American. (The Globe corrected the two figures after the story's publication.) Warren is expected to run for president in 2020, and she is already using the DNA results to push back against a claim made by Trump and others: that she made up or exaggerated her Native American history to further her career. Warren has denied that, and Boston 25 News reports she has released a companion video and website to the DNA results. "I never expected my family’s story to be used as a racist political joke, but I don’t take any fight lying down," she tweeted. (More Elizabeth Warren stories.)

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