This article is more than 1 year old

This article is more than 1 year old

Senator Elizabeth Warren was once again forced to address her past claims of Native American heritage on Tuesday, as the Washington Post reported the senator and Democratic candidate for president listed her race as “American Indian” on her registration for the Texas state bar more than three decades ago.

The yellow registration card, which is dated April 1986, was filled out in blue ink and signed by Warren, the Post reported. The paper said her office did not dispute the card’s authenticity.

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Warren’s ethnic heritage has long been a partisan trip line. The Massachusetts Democrat was attacked in 2012 Senate race for representing herself as a Native American in order to take advantage of affirmative action. Warren insisted that she relied on family stories but a prominent Massachusetts rightwing radio host nicknamed her “Fauxcahontas” to emphasize what he viewed as a lie.

That nickname has since been transmuted by Donald Trump to simply “Pocahontas” and has been construed as an ethnic slur by some.

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Warren has created an exploratory committee to begin raising money and hiring staff for a run at the Democratic presidential nomination in 2020. She is expected to formally launch her campaign on Saturday.

In an effort to put the issue behind her, Warren released a video that included a DNA test of her heritage. But the video sparked even more criticism from Native Americans about whether she was attempting to circumvent the tribal citizenship process.

Warren told the Post on Tuesday that she was sorry “for furthering confusion on tribal sovereignty and tribal citizenship and harm that resulted”.

“I can’t go back,” she added.

Reuters contributed to this report