The Boston Globe mistakenly overstated Senator Elizabeth Warren’s Native American ancestry in a Monday report detailing a gene test the Massachusetts lawmaker underwent to substantiate her previous claims to Native American heritage.
The ancestry report indicates that Warren is anywhere between six and ten generations removed from her closest Native American ancestor. The Globe initially suggested that, if Warren’s closest Native American ancestor dates back ten generations, she would qualify as 1/512th Native American, when the actual figure is 1/1,024th.
“Due to a math error, a story about Elizabeth Warren misstated the ancestry percentage of a potential 10th generation relative. It should be 1/1,024,” the Globe’s correction reads.
Warren, who has been accused by President Trump and other prominent Republicans of fabricating her Native American ancestry for career advancement, touted the results of her gene analysis in a video released by her campaign team Monday.
While Warren claims the results of the test vindicate her decision to identify as Native American while applying to teach at Harvard Law School, Republican critics have pointed out that she is no more Native American than the average Caucasian living in North America.
“To put that in perspective, Warren might even be less Native American than the average European American,” Republican National Committee deputy communications director Mike Reed told Fox News in an email.
Asked Monday about his pledge to donate $1 million to charity should Warren substantiate her claim to Native American ancestry, President Trump dismissed the results of the ancestry test and denied having made the pledge.
“Who cares? I didn’t say that. You better read it again,” Trump said, adding that he “hopes” Warren challenges him for the presidency in 2020.
“I think she’d be very easy. I do not think she’d be difficult at all. She’ll destroy the country. She’ll make our country into Venezuela,” Trump told reporters on the White House lawn. “It’s going to be a long process for the Democrats.”