Fox News contributor Rachel Campos-Duffy on Tuesday said Sen. Elizabeth Warren’s ancestors “rounded up Cherokees for the Trail of Tears.”
Campos-Duffy made the controversial remark during an appearance on Fox News a one day after the Massachusetts Democrat publicly released DNA test results that a top researcher said “strongly support” the existence of a Native American ancestry.
{mosads}“Actually, genealogists have gone back through her family tree and found that her ancestors were actually part of the Tennessee militia that rounded up Cherokees for the Trail of Tears,” said Campos-Duffy, who’s married to Rep. Sean Duffy (R-Wis.).
She did not cite a specific report or study for her assertion. Breitbart News published an article in 2012 that said Warren’s ancestors were probably involved in the Trail of Tears, the forced migration of Native Americans to west of the Mississippi in the 1830s.
Through a spokesperson, Campos-Duffy pointed to outlets such as BuzzFeed News and the Christian Science Monitor to support her claim.
Warren’s office did not immediately provide a comment to The Hill.
“What a disastrous rollout for her,” Campos-Duffy said on Fox News. “I mean actually embarrassing. And the Cherokee nation. They’re just fed up with her antics. They’ve known that she’s used their tribe to get advancement in her own academic career.”
“The only person that benefitted from her rollout, which was embarrassing, are Republicans, and frankly maybe Kamala Harris, who actually looks more credible after this,” Campos-Duffy added.
Warren and Harris are both considered potential 2020 presidential candidates.
On Monday, Warren released a video showing discussing her DNA results. The video also referenced taunts made by President Trump at a campaign rally in July.
“I will give you a million dollars, to your favorite charity, paid for by Trump, if you take the test and it shows you’re an Indian,” the president said at the time. “I have a feeling she will say ‘no.’”
Trump on Monday initially denied he ever made the offer. He later said “he’ll only do it if I can test her personally.”
Those remarks were followed by a series of tweets on Tuesday saying Warren took a “bogus” test to prove her heritage. He also called her a “phony.”
Updated at 11:32 a.m.