Sen. Elizabeth Warren’s (D., Mass.) presidential campaign removed her DNA test ancestry video on Monday as her campaign attempts to put the issue behind her.
The Warren campaign scrubbed their launch video where it showed Warren talking about a DNA test which was supposed to counter President Donald Trump's "attacks" on her heritage. The release of Warren’s DNA test results was not well received, as the test revealed she could be anywhere from 1/64th to 1/1024th Native American. On Monday, the video was removed from the campaign website originally linked at elizabethwarren.com/heritage, which now takes web visitors to a "Fact Squad' page, having the URL https://facts.elizabethwarren.com/family/.
Warren claimed "being Native American is part of who [her] family is." Her campaign shared on their webpage Warren’s DNA test video featuring family members and Harvard colleagues speaking to her background and reputation. In the video, faculty explained that Warren’s ethnicity as a Native American minority was not a part of the discussion during her hiring process. Stephen Burbank, professor for the administration of justice at the University of Pennsylvania Law School, said in the video that "Elizabeth was revered as perhaps the best teacher on the faculty."
In her State Bar of Texas registration form, Warren listed her race as "American Indian," something that came out earlier this year and renewed the controversy regarding her heritage. She apologized in February for calling herself Native American.
Warren stated publicly sharing the DNA test results were meant to demonstrate transparency on the matter despite now removing the video from their campaign website.
Warren has gained significant momentum after the June and July Democratic debates. Fox News poll shows Warren is polling at 20 percent behind leading candidate, Joe Biden, who is at 31 percent.
Warren also apologized Monday at a Native American candidate forum, although she kept it vague as to what she was apologizing for. She did receive some enthusiasm, however, as one moderator asked his audience to cheer more loudly when Warren joined him.