On Monday, President Trump caused a stir in the liberal media when he mocked Democratic Massachusetts Senator Elizabeth Warren as “Pocahontas” during an Oval Office event to honor the work of Navajo code talkers during World War II. The big three networks rushed to claim Trump was whipping around a racial slur, but meanwhile, they brushed over where the moniker came from: Warren’s dubious claims she was of Native-American heritage, which she used to gain an advantage in forwarding her career.

“Democrats quickly called it a racial slur. Warren called it disturbing,” highlighted Correspondent Nancy Cordes during CBS Evening News. “President Trump has used that name to peg his progressive foe many times before (…) It's a reference to the Massachusetts Senator’s past claims of Cherokee ancestry.” She followed that up with a clip of Warren defending herself, but no explanation about how she used those claims to get ahead or any background to the controversy.

To kick off NBC Nightly News, Anchor Lester Holt declared: “It is a derogatory nickname he often uses to attack Democratic Senator Elizabeth Warren but the place and moment has the White House tonight defending the President from accusations of racial insensitivity.”

White House Correspondent Kristen Welker downplayed Warren’s lying as best she could, only noting how “Warren came under fire as a Senate candidate for claiming Native-American ancestry during her academic career.” But Welker touted the way in which the Senator “lashed out” at the President. “It is deeply unfortunate that the President of the United States cannot even make it through a ceremony honoring these heroes without having to throw out a racial slur,” Warren spat in an interview.

And while delivering his report on ABC’s World News Tonight, White House Correspondent Jon Karl barely touched Warren’s deception. He merely stated:

The three Navajo heroes, all in their 90s, reacted with silence. The venue was new, but the insult is one the President used over and over again during the campaign to attack Senator Elizabeth Warren, who came under fire in 2012 for claiming, without any proof, to have native American heritage.

In a report by CNN from the summer of 2016, they document just how dubious Warren’s claims of Native-American heritage were. “Warren says, yes, she is, and points to ‘family stories’ passed down to her through generations as evidence,” wrote Gregory Krieg. “In that account and others, a genealogist traced Warren's Native American heritage to the late 19th century, which, if true, would make her 1/32 Native American. (However, the legitimacy of those findings has been debated.)”

The CNN piece actually noted how The Washington Post’s fact checkers had thrown up their hands and gave up trying to figure out if Warren’s claims were accurate.

Krieg also reported how the Senator had benefited professionally from people believing she was Native-American. “Harvard Law School in the 1990s touted Warren, then a professor in Cambridge, as being ‘Native American,’” he continued. “They singled her out, Warren later acknowledged, because she had listed herself as a minority in an Association of American Law Schools directory.”

The three networks failed to do their due diligence and fully cover the origin of Trump’s criticism. Maybe because they were more eager to slam their favorite punching bag, or perhaps it’s because Warren was rumored to be thinking of challenging Trump in 2020.

Transcripts below:

ABC

World News Tonight

November 27, 2017

6:35:36 PM Eastern (…) JON KARL: The three Navajo heroes, all in their 90s, reacted with silence. The venue was new, but the insult is one the President used over and over again during the campaign to attack Senator Elizabeth Warren, who came under fire in 2012 for claiming, without any proof, to have native American heritage. DONALD TRUMP: Did you ever hear of Pocahontas? Huh? It's Pocahontas, Elizabeth Warren. (…)

...

CBS Evening News

November 27, 2017

6:36:33 PM Eastern ANTHONY MASON: A United States Senator is accusing the President of a racial slur directed at her. Here's chief congressional correspondent Nancy Cordes. [Cuts to video] (…) NANCY CORDES: Democrats quickly called it a racial slur. Warren called it disturbing. ELIZABETH WARREN: I guess he thinks it's going to shut me up, and all I can say is, hasn't worked in the past, not going to work in the future. CORDES: President Trump has used that name to peg his progressive foe many times before. (…) CORDES: It's a reference to the Massachusetts Senator’s past claims of Cherokee ancestry. WARREN: But the truth is the truth. I believe my mother. (…)