A descendant of 17th-century Powhatan princess Pocahontas has called on Democratic Senator Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts to apologize for her claims of having Cherokee ancestry.
Speaking with Fox News host Tucker Carlson on Tuesday, Debbie White Dove Porreco, who is a member of Trumpettes USA—a support group for President Donald Trump—said she believes Warren needs to "come back and apologize to everybody for what she's done."
Porreco's call for an apology from Warren came after the Democratic senator revealed the results of a DNA test earlier this week, proving that she is of Native American ancestry.
Porreco said that while she was "glad" that Warren took a DNA test, "it did prove that she isn't the Cherokee Indian that she's been claiming to be for so long."
Asked by Carlson whether she believes Warren is guilty of appropriating Native Americans' heritage, Porreco said: "I think she's guilty of claiming she's been American Indian, but had no proof…and then using it for applications for college, for political reasons…that was all wrong but she did that this whole time."
There is no evidence to support Porreco's claim that Warren ever used claims of Native American heritage on college applications, and while Warren did notify officials at the University of Pennsylvania and then Harvard of her Native American heritage after she was hired to teach there, a Boston Globe report found that her ancestral claim had no impact on her hiring.
"At every step of her remarkable rise in the legal profession, the people responsible for hiring her saw her as a white woman," the newspaper reported.
Still, Porreco claimed that she felt "betrayed" by Warren's actions, accusing the Democrat of trying to use Native American ancestry to advance in the political world "and take the benefits away from American Indians that belong to them."
She said she also believed other members of the Native American community "feel disappointed. I think at this point, [Warren] needs to come back and just apologize to everybody for what she's done."
Warren has faced widespread criticism over her decision to take a DNA test to prove her Native American heritage, with a Cherokee Nation official condemning the move as "inappropriate and wrong."
Read more: Elizabeth Warren's DNA test Is "inappropriate and wrong," Cherokee Nation Official Says
"Using a DNA test to lay claim to any connection to the Cherokee Nation or any tribal nation, even vaguely, is inappropriate and wrong," Cherokee Nation Secretary of State Chuck Hoskin Jr. said in a statement.
"It makes a mockery out of DNA tests and its legitimate uses while also dishonoring legitimate tribal governments and their citizens, whose ancestors are well documented and whose heritage is proven," he said.
Hoskin also pointed out that DNA test results would have no bearing on tribal citizenship, a point that Warren has also acknowledged.
Warren tweeted earlier this week that she recognized that "DNA and family history has nothing to do with tribal affiliation or citizenship, which is determined only–only–by Tribal Nations. I respect the distinction and don't list myself as Native in the Senate."
The DNA test, which was performed by Carlos Bustamante, a Stanford University genetics professor, found that while the "vast majority" of Warren's ancestry was European, the results "strongly" supported the existence of a Native American ancestor.
Bustamante determined that Warren's ancestor would have lived around six to10 generations ago, suggesting that the senator could be between 1/64th and 1/1024th Native American, according to The Boston Globe. The report does note that more recent ancestors may have been missed.
Warren underwent the DNA test in an apparent attempt to shut down debate over her Native American heritage after repeated attacks from President Donald Trump, who has frequently facetiously referred to the Democrat as "Pocahontas" over her ancestral claims.
The U.S. leader was quick to dismiss the Massachusetts senator's DNA test results, tweeting: "She took a bogus DNA test and it showed that she may be 1/1024, far less than the average American. Now Cherokee Nation denies her 'DNA test is useless.' Even they don't want her. Phony!"
Asked on Tuesday by reporters about the results, the president said: "Who cares?"
Despite his dismissal of Warren's announcement, Trump had previously urged the Democrat to take such a test, asserting at a rally in July that if given the chance to debate Warren, he would offer to donate $1 million to a charity of the senator's choice if she agreed to take a DNA test.
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