Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) mocked Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) on Monday for releasing a DNA test proving her Native American ancestry.
Warren, a potential 2020 presidential contender, released DNA test results that “strongly support” her claim of having a Native American ancestor six to 10 generations ago.
“These DNA tests are quite something,” Hatch tweeted along with a photo of him apparently checking out his results.
President Trump and other Republicans have often jabbed Warren for suggesting she has Native American heritage, with Trump accusing her of lying and referring to her by the derogatory term “Pocahontas.”
White House counselor Kellyanne Conway brushed off Warren’s results, calling it “junk science.”
“I haven’t looked at the test,” Conway said Monday. “I know that everybody likes to pick their junk science or sound science depending on the conclusion, it seems some days.”
“But I haven’t looked at the DNA test and it really doesn’t interest me,” Conway added.
Warren claims to have Cherokee blood, but the Cherokee Nation called her out for trying to make a connection with a tribal nation.
“Using a DNA test to lay claim to any connection to the Cherokee Nation or any tribal nation, even vaguely, is inappropriate and wrong,” said Cherokee Nation Secretary of State Chuck Hoskin Jr. “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.”
Hoskin accused Warren of “undermining tribal interests with her continued claims of tribal heritage.”