Trump Makes 'Pocahontas' Crack in Front of Navajo War Heroes

At a White House ceremony Monday honoring Native American war heroes, President Trump referred to Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren as "Pocahontas." The president was paying tribute to three Navajo "code talkers" who helped the US military create an all-but-unbreakable code based on their native language during World War II, the Hill reports. "You were here long before any of us were here," Trump told the men as he stood beneath a portrait of former President Andrew Jackson; Politico is among the outlets pointing out that Jackson was the one who signed the Indian Removal Act. "Although we have a representative in Congress who they say was here a long time ago. They call her Pocahontas."

He didn't say Warren's name, but Trump has often used the nickname to refer to her, mocking a claim she made to having Cherokee ancestry. During the ceremony, the three code talkers described their experiences transmitting plans during several World War II battles, including the Battle of Iwo Jima. They are among the last 13 code talkers still alive, CBS News reports. The three men, who didn't seem to react to Trump's comment about Warren, also lobbied at the ceremony for a museum in honor of the code talkers, to which the president responded, "You deserve it." (More White House stories.)