Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) has — again — fallen under public scrutiny for allegedly spreading falsehoods. Here are five instances involving Warren being called out for making false claims — most of which resulted in the senator eventually admitting to wrongdoing.
“I think you called me a liar on national TV?” Warren can be heard repeatedly uttering to Senator Bernie Sanders (I-VT) during their post-debate exchange on Tuesday night.
The senator was likely referring to Sanders having flat-out denied her claim he told Warren he believed a woman could not win the 2020 presidential election. Sanders had also referred to the claims as “ludicrous.”
During the debate, Sanders supporters took to Twitter, where they spread the hashtags #NeverWarren, #LyinLiz, and #WarrenIsASnake, while also tweeting the snake emoji in the reply section of Warren’s tweets.
This wouldn’t be the first time the senator from Massachusetts stands accused of spreading falsehoods. Here are four additional instances in which Warren was challenged over a slim regard for the truth.
Warren claimed “American Indian” heritage on her Texas Bar registration card.
According to a registration card obtained by the Washington Post, Warren wrote “American Indian” as her “Race” when she filled out a form for the State Bar of Texas in 1986. The card was handwritten, and signed by Warren, whose spokesperson did not dispute the card’s authenticity.
Warren identified as a “minority” at both the University of Pennsylvania Law School and Harvard Law School.
According to the Boston Globe, Warren was listed as a minority professor in law school directories for nine years before she landed a job at Harvard.
“At some point after I was hired by them, I — provided that information to the University of Pennsylvania and Harvard,” said Warren in 2012. “My Native American heritage is part of who I am, I’m proud of it and I have been open about it.'”
Warren went on to be celebrated as the “first woman of color” at Harvard Law.
In October 2018, Warren doubled down by releasing her DNA test results, which revealed that she might have anywhere from 1/64 to 1/1024 Native heritage — meaning that she has as much Native heritage as the average white American, thus, debunking her claims with her own DNA test.
The Cherokee Nation later issued a statement declaring Warren’s DNA test stunt “inappropriate” and a “mockery.”
“I shouldn’t have done it,” conceded Warren in July 2019. “I am not a person of color. I am not a citizen of a tribe, and I’ve apologized for any confusion over tribal sovereignty, tribal citizenship and any harm caused by that.”
Warren claimed she sent her children to public schools.
Last November, Warren faced a backlash for telling a school choice activist that her children went to public schools, appearing to deny the fact her son had attended a private school.
“I read that your children went to private schools,” said school choice activist Sarah Carpenter to Warren in a video.
“No, my children went to public schools,” responded Warren.
Watch below:
According to the Washington Free Beacon, however, the senator sent her son, Alex Warren, to a private school:
A school yearbook obtained by the Washington Free Beacon indicates, however, that Warren’s son, Alex Warren, attended the Kirby Hall School for at least the 1986-1987 school year, Warren’s final year as a professor at the University of Texas at Austin. The college preparatory school is known for its “academically advanced curriculum” and offers small class sizes for students in grades K-12. The yearbook indicates that Alex Warren attended as a fifth grader.
Moreover, after the video went viral on social media, Warren’s campaign was forced to admit her son had attended an expensive private school.
Warren claimed she was fired for being “visibly pregnant.”
Warren told voters she was once fired from a teaching job after a male principal noticed that she was pregnant.
The senator’s story, however, was called into question after a 2007 interview surfaced, which suggested she had left the school due to lack of qualifications and interest.
You can follow Alana Mastrangelo on Twitter at @ARmastrangelo, and on Instagram.