Trump sticks by ‘Pocahontas’ nickname after being challenged

Donald Trump is sticking with his moniker of Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) as “Pocahontas” after being challenged at a news conference by an attendee who called it offensive.

Trump responded in a tweet on Thursday afternoon, saying that it was “offensive” that Warren “pretended to be Native American to get in Harvard.”

I find it offensive that Goofy Elizabeth Warren, sometimes referred to as Pocahontas, pretended to be Native American to get in Harvard.

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) May 26, 2016

Warren fact-checked Trump in a pair of tweets herself:

Get your facts straight, @realDonaldTrump. I didn’t even go to Harvard – I’m a graduate of @UHouston and @RutgersU.

— Elizabeth Warren (@elizabethforma) May 26, 2016

If @realDonaldTrump means my job at Harvard, he can ask Charles Fried, Solicitor General for Reagan. He says loud & clear that’s a lie.

— Elizabeth Warren (@elizabethforma) May 26, 2016

The exchange came after a person in the audience for a news conference earlier in the day in Bismarck, N.D., challenged Trump on his moniker for Warren.

“Who, Pocahontas?” Trump responded when asked about Warren.

“Is that offensive?” someone asked.

“Is it offensive? You tell me,” Trump said.

“That’s very offensive!” yelled out a woman from the audience, who was later identified as Nicole Robertson, a freelance writer credentialed for the event. She is a member of the Cree nation.

“Oh yeah, I’m sorry about that,” Trump said sarcastically, before repeating the name. “Pocahontas? Is that what you said? Elizabeth Warren?”

Trump has used the moniker several times in going after Warren’s old claims of Native American ancestry. On Thursday he also called her “overrated” and “a real disaster.”

“She said she was a Native American, but she wasn’t able to document it,” Trump said, mocking Warren for talking about her “high cheek bones” to explain her ancestry. “I think she’s as Native American as I am.”

Nicole Robertson, a Native American writer and blogger, says Trump’s “Pocahontas” jab at Warren is “offensive.” pic.twitter.com/f6Z5nKvYI5

— Sarah McCammon NPR (@sarahmccammon) May 26, 2016