Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D., Mass.) would not say Sunday if she would take a DNA "spit test" to prove her longtime claims of Native American heritage, instead pivoting to telling the story of her family and saying "it's a part of who I am."
Warren's claims of Cherokee and Delaware Indian heritage became a subject of controversy in 2012 when it was revealed she had no documented proof, instead saying she relied on family lore to substantiate her ancestry claims.
President Donald Trump has constantly derided Warren, widely regarded as a likely 2020 Democratic presidential candidate, as "Pocahontas."
"Fox News Sunday" host John Roberts brought up an editorial last week from the Massachusetts newspaper The Berkshire Eagle, which wrote Warren needed to resolve the debate over her heritage.
"We call upon our senior senator to screw up her courage and take the spit test," the newspaper said, referring to the DNA-heritage tracking labs that advertise on television.
"Would you be willing to take a DNA test to put this issue to rest?" Roberts asked.
Warren didn't answer on that front. Instead, she responded by telling the story of her parents, who she said met as teenagers in Oklahoma. Her father's family, Warren said, was opposed to his marrying Warren's mother because she was part Native American, and the couple went on to make it through "hard times" and raise her and her three brothers.
"I know who I am because of what my mother and my father told me, what my grandmother and my grandfather told me, what all my aunts and uncles told me and my brothers. It's a part of who I am, and no one's ever going to take that away," Warren said.
Warren said repeatedly Sunday she is not running for president in 2020, pointing to her upcoming Senate reelection bid in November; however, her wording appeared purposefully vague.