2018 MA Senate race: on Principles & Values

Elizabeth Warren: DNA test shows Native American ancestry generations back

When I decided to run for the Senate in 2012, I never thought that my family's Native American heritage would come under attack and my dead parents would be called liars. I never expected my academic career to become the stuff of right-wing conspiracy theories. And I never expected the President of the United States to use my family's story as a racist political joke against Native American history, culture, and people--over, and over, and over.

I took the extra step and did a DNA test. It contains Native American ancestry. The first Native American in our family that can be proved is generations back, and there could be others. No matter. It's my family, and--like it or not Donald Trump--my family's stories are supported by this test.

Elizabeth Warren: Globe review: no use of Native American heritage in hiring

"The Globe found clear evidence that her claim to Native American ethnicity was never considered by the Harvard Law faculty, which voted resoundingly to hire her, or by those who hired her to four prior positions at other law schools. At every step of her remarkable rise in the legal profession, the people responsible for hiring her saw her as a white woman."

I'm not afraid of the facts, so today we're launching a new Fact Squad website for anyone who wants see the facts for themselves: http://www.elizabethwarren.com/heritage

This new website has more than you'd ever want to know: It has personnel files. It has interviews with the people who hired me, and my own family members.

Heidi Wellman: Keep God in the public sphere

A: YES

Elizabeth Warren: Calling me "Pocahontas" is a racial slur

"At the same time she claims she is so outraged, her campaign is sending out fundraising emails using the term 'Pocahontas,'" Republican state Rep. Geoff Diehl said. Trump again used Pocahontas to refer to Warren during a recent White House event honoring Navajo Code Talkers. Later that day, Warren emailed supporters referencing the comment and soliciting campaign donations.

Warren has said she never relied on her Native American heritage to gain any advantage. In a 2012 interview with the AP, Warren said she was told her mother was part Cherokee and part Delaware. "I never used it to get anything. I didn't use it to get a job. I didn't use it to get into school," she said Monday. "The people who have hired me have made that clear."

Geoff Diehl: Served as Trump campaign co-chair in Massachusetts

Warren has called the Republican president's use of the name a racial slur. "At the same time she claims she is so outraged, her campaign is sending out fundraising emails using the term 'Pocahontas,'" Republican state Rep. Geoff Diehl said. "Once again, Sen. Warren is speaking out of both sides of her mouth."

Of the four main Warren challengers, Diehl has the closest ties to Trump, having served as co-chairman of his campaign in Massachusetts. Diehl said Warren "brought these attacks upon herself by being the chief obstructionist in Washington" and called her criticism of Trump's ridicule "more phony political outrage to build her national profile to run for president."

John Kingston: Calling Warren "Pocahontas" is inappropriate but she did lie

Warren has called the Republican president's use of the name a racial slur.

Trump again used Pocahontas to refer to Warren during a recent White House event honoring Navajo Code Talkers. Business executive John Kingston said that Trump's decision to use the name during the veteran's event was inappropriate but that his criticism is fair.

"I certainly won't be using such a term on the campaign trail--but Sen. Warren's misrepresentation of her heritage is part of a pattern that clearly troubles voters, one of using mistruths, divisive rhetoric and grandstanding to advance herself and now boost her presidential ambitions," Kingston said.

Shiva Ayyadurai: Warren shoplifted racial identity of Native American

Technology entrepreneur Shiva Ayyadurai has embraced Trump's use of the term. Ayyadurai, who began the race as a Republican but is now running as an independent, already used Pocahontas to refer to Warren in a tweet. He said Warren "has literally shoplifted the racial identity of Native American for her own personal gain," including a job as a law professor at Harvard University.

Warren has acknowledged telling Harvard and an earlier employer, the University of Pennsylvania, of her heritage but only after she had been hired. Pocahontas was a native woman who lived in present-day Virginia in the 1600s and agreed to marry an English colonist to help ensure peace and protect her people.