Democratic presidential candidate Marianne Williamson told a Native American forum Monday that she would remove the portrait of former President Andrew Jackson currently hanging in the Oval Office if she were elected.
The promise from the author and spiritual guru drew loud applause from the audience attending the forum in Sioux City, Iowa, put on by Native American voting rights organization Four Directions, according to Politico.
“We can atone. We can make amends. And if and when I’m president of the United States, we will,” she said. “We will begin by taking that picture of Andrew Jackson off the wall of the Oval Office, I assure you.”
{mosads}As the seventh president of the United States, Jackson signed into law the Indian Removal Act, which spurred the forced relocation of Native Americans across the country known as the Trail of Tears.
President Trump, a vocal fan of Jackson, reportedly made the decision to hang a painting of him in the Oval Office after he was inaugurated.
“I am not a Native American woman, but I find it one of the greatest insults,” Williamson said. “You will not be insulted. You will be more than not insulted.”
Williamson was among several 2020 presidential candidates, including Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), to address the forum.
Warren used her time to apologize over her previous claim of Native American heritage, saying she has made “mistakes.”
“I am sorry for harm I have caused. I have listened and I have learned a lot, and I am grateful for the many conversations we have had together,” she said.