President Donald Trump hailed the strength and bravery of World War II Navajo ‘code-talkers’ at the White House – where he also mocked Massachusetts senator Elizabeth Warren as ‘Pocahontas.’
Trump regularly ripped Warren, a leading liberal adversary, as ‘Pocahontas’ on the campaign trail for having previously claimed Native American ancestry.
On Monday, the president decided to air the attack one more time alongside aging Native American veterans who helped fight fascism, in a White House ceremony attended by White House chief of staff John Kelly and other officials.
‘You were here long before any of us were here,’ Trump told the honorees. ‘Although we have a representative in Congress who they say was here a long time ago. They call her Pocahontas,’ Trump said.
President Trump hailed World War II Navajo code-talkers in the Oval Office on Monday in front of a portrait of Sen. Andrew Jackson, led violent campaigns against Native Americans
During his remarks, Trump recalled a time when Kelly asked him: ‘How good were these code talkers?’
‘He said sir, you have no idea. You have no idea what they’ve done for this country. And the strength and the bravery and the love that they have for the country. That was the ultimate statement from General Kelly on the importance.’
The president spoke as two code-talkers stood by him at a podium, while another was seated in a wheelchair.
Peter MacDonald, a WWII veteran and former chairman of the Navajo tribe, gave introductory remarks by going through the history of the code talkers in the Pacific theater, including at the battles at Guadalcanal and Iwo Jima.
Warren immediately shot back at the president for making a ‘racial slur.’
President Donald Trump reacts as he honours Navajo Code Talkers for their contributions during World War Two at the White House in Washington, U.S., November 27, 2017
President Donald Trump greets Navajo Code Talkers as he honours their contributions during World War Two as they take part in an event at the White House in Washington, U.S., November 27, 2017
President Donald Trump mocked Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) as ‘Pocahontas’ at a ceremony honoring Native Americans
Sen. Ed Markey of Massachusetts shot back on Twitter.
‘What @RealDonaldTrump said about my partner @SenWarren is a slur. It disparages the Native American war heroes, standing right beside the President, who risked their lives to protect his right to make such a disgusting comment,’ Markey wrote.
White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders, asked why Trump felt the need to make the point at the ceremony, said: ‘I think what most people find offensive is Sen. Warren lying about her heritage to advance her career.’
She said Trump had an ‘extreme amount of value and respect for these individuals.’
‘I don’t think that it is’ a racial slur to use the term Pocahontas, she said.
The remark got met with silence when the president made it.
Sen. Elizabeth Warren blasted Trump for using a ‘racial slur,’ something his press secretary said he didn’t do
During the war, the code-talkers radioed messages using a code derived from their native language. They used words for war chief, braided hair, and hummingbird that was the only unbroken military code in history, the Associated Press reported.
Warren told MSNBC: ‘This was supposed to be an event to honor heroes. People who put it all on the line for our country. And people who because of their incredible work saved the lives of countless Americans and our allies. It is deeply unfortunate that the president of the United States cannot make it through a ceremony honoring these heroes without having to throw out a racial slur.’
She added: ‘Donald Trump does this over and over thinking somehow he’s going to shut me up with it, it hadn’t worked in the past it is not going to work in the future.’
Harvard Law listed Warren as Native American after she listed herself as a minority in a Association of American Law Schools directory.
It became a campaign issue in her 2012 Senate race when opponent Scott Brown accused her of claiming to be Native American.
I am very proud of my heritage,” Warren told NPR at the time, CNN reported.
‘These are my family stories. This is what my brothers and I were told by my mom and my dad, my mammaw and my pappaw. This is our lives. And I’m very proud of it.’