Article content continued

“Pocahontas is not happy, she’s not happy. She’s the worst. You know, Pocahontas – I’m doing such a disservice to Pocahontas, it’s so unfair to Pocahontas – but this Elizabeth Warren, I call her ‘goofy,’ Elizabeth Warren, she’s one of the worst senators in the entire United States Senate.” – Trump, campaign rally in Virginia, June 10, 2016.

—

Donald Trump likes to give nicknames to his critics, and one of his favourite nicknames for Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., is “Pocahontas,” which he has been using on and off in recent weeks. On June 27, the first time Warren and Hillary Clinton spoke together at a campaign rally since Warren endorsed Clinton earlier this month, Trump re-upped this nickname.

Trump is referring to Warren’s self-proclaimed Native American heritage, which The Washington Post and many other news outlets covered extensively when it came up during Warren’s 2012 run for Senate. The presumptive Republican presidential nominee’s supporters have already caught on to the nickname.

Since this issue is resurfacing and likely will continue doing so as Warren stumps for Clinton, we wanted to provide for our readers a refresher of this issue from four years ago. Our goal is not to relitigate the matter, but to compile major findings from some of the most extensive reporting done on the issue.

Warren faced intense scrutiny of her purported Native American heritage after her Republican opponent and then-Senate incumbent Scott Brown used her claims to question her integrity. Brown aired ads questioning Warren’s background and attacked her during a debate over this issue.