NBC host Megyn Kelly unloaded on Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D., Mass.) Tuesday after she released a DNA test revealing a thin link to Native American ancestry, saying she "scored a goal against herself" and had no business calling herself Cherokee.
Warren sought to dispel a longtime political controversy on Monday when she released a video and DNA test analysis revealing she was anywhere between 1/64th and 1/1,024th Native American. For years, she has been criticized for claiming Cherokee lineage without documentation.
Kelly explained the controversy to her audience on "Megyn Kelly Today:" Warren represented herself as Native American while teaching law at multiple universities, and she even contributed to a cookbook called Pow Wow Chow—the audience laughed at that one.
Kelly mocked the ratio the DNA test analysis showed: Warren could have, at best, an ancestor who predated the founding of the United States.
"One out of 1,024, I don't even know how to say that ... does not allow you to say you're a Cherokee," Kelly said.
NBC News correspondent Jacob Soboroff said local Democrats are "banging their heads on the wall" over Warren bringing this up with the midterms close by.
Trump previously stated that, in a hypothetical presidential debate with Warren, he would challenge her to take a DNA test and donate $1 million to the charity of her choice if she could prove she was "Indian." Media outlets jumped on the quote after Warren's test went public on Monday, and Warren also said Trump should pay up because she'd proven she was part Native American.
Soboroff asked Kelly if she thought Trump should hand over the dough, but she said no.
"I don't think he does, because you know why? If you look at what he said, he said I'll make the donation if you prove that you're an Indian. That's to quote him," Kelly said. "Did Elizabeth Warren just prove that she's an Indian? Did she?"
"She understood she was Native American," NBC News correspondent Morgan Radford said.
"That's not good enough," Kelly said.
She went on to compare her unfavorably to a high schooler who was shredded by left-wing critics for appropriating Asian culture with a kimono-style prom dress.
"Elizabeth Warren is out there representing that she's got a heritage that, at best, is probably similar to most Americans in this country, none of whom checked the box," Kelly said.
When "American Ninja Warrior" host Matt Iseman acknowledged Warren didn't pull off a "slam dunk" with her big reveal, Kelly fired away again.
"It's not even close to a slam dunk. She scored on herself! She scored a goal against herself!" Kelly said.
Warren has long said her father's family disapproved of marrying her mother because she was part-Native American, and they eventually eloped. President Donald Trump has mockingly called her "Pocahontas" for years.
The Cherokee Nation released a statement slamming Warren for her gesture on Monday, saying it made a "mockery out of DNA tests and its legitimate uses" and was "undermining tribal interests."
"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," Cherokee Nation Secretary of State Chuck Hoskin Jr. said. "Senator Warren is undermining tribal interests with her continued claims of tribal heritage."