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Elizabeth Warren is at least partially Native American and 99 percent running for president, DNA test shows

Trump, who once offered to pay her $1 million if she took a DNA test showing Native American heritage, is now denying he ever said that.
Elizabeth Warren is at least partially Native American, and 99 percent running for president, DNA test shows

Sen. Elizabeth Warren revealed the results of a DNA test Monday, bolstering both her claims to a Native American heritage — and the near-certainty that she’ll run for president in 2020. Warren's heritage is a favorite talking point for President Donald Trump, who routinely mocks her background, calling her “Pocahontas” and claiming that she fudged her ancestry to get ahead. Warren, who is originally from Oklahoma, has long insisted that she was told as a child that she inherited Native American roots from her great-great-great-grandmother. Apparently, that insistence resulted in a DNA analysis from Carlos D. Bustamante, a Stanford University professor, who concluded that, while she’s mostly European, her “results strongly support the existence of an unadmixed Native American ancestor” about six to 10 generations removed from the Massachusetts senator.

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That means she could be 1/32nd American Indian, or 1/1,024 Native American. This difference will likely be highlighted by Republicans, who have called into question whether she unfairly benefitted from claiming Native American heritage during her time as a law professor at the University of Texas at Austin School of Law, the University of Pennsylvania, and Harvard Law School.

Either way, it’s a pretty remarkable show of transparency compared to a president who has refused to release his tax returns or otherwise disclose his true wealth. Warren, on the other hand, sent a sample of her DNA to a private, Georgia-based lab in August, according to the Boston Globe. The Globe has also reviewed whether her heritage had an impact on her legal career, and found [none. ](https://www.bostonglobe.com/news/nation/2018/09/01/did-claiming-native-american-heritage-actually-help-elizabeth-warren-get-ahead-but-complicated/wUZZcrKKEOUv5Spnb7IO0K/story.html)Trump once offered Warren $1 million if she took a DNA test “and it shows you’re an Indian,” according to the Washington Post. On Monday, he denied saying it, even though it was televised.

In the meantime, Warren has since added all of this information to part of her official website, detailing her ancestry in a nearly six-minute, folksy video featuring family members in Oklahoma. “I used my mama’s grit to get through commuter college and law school,” Warren says in the video’s voiceover. “I used my daddy’s relentless optimism when I was balancing babies and books. But my background played no role in my hiring.”

Cover image: WASHINGTON, DC - OCTOBER 02: Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) (C) heads for the weekly Senate Democratic policy luncheon at the U.S. Capitol October 02, 2018 in Washington, DC. Senate GOP leaders agreed last week with the Judiciary Committee to allow the FBI to conduct a one-week investigation into sexual assault allegations against Supreme Court nominee Judge Brett Kavanaugh before the Senate votes on his confirmation. (Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)

Correction: Due to a calculation error, an earlier version of this story incorrectly stated the percentage of Sen. Warren's Native American heritage. It has since been updated.