Lindsey Graham Challenges Warren's Results, Vows To Take DNA Test
The irrepressible Lindsey Graham promised to take America on a journey of self-discovery Tuesday by claiming he will take a DNA test and unveil the results on TV.
The South Carolina Republican senator, during an appearance on “Fox & Friends,” touched on the subject of DNA tests as talk turned to Democratic Sen. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts.
Warren, who has long claimed that she is of Native American ancestry, said that she had a DNA test done to confirm that she is of Cherokee descent. The test showed that Warren had a Native American ancestor dating about six to 10 generations ago, making her somewhere between 1/64 and 1/1024 Native American, Fox News reported.
In what amounted to a challenge to Warren’s results, Graham said on the show that he could out-Native American Warren, who has been mocked by President Donald Trump as “Pocahontas” for her claims.
“I’m gonna take a DNA test …” Graham said.
He then upped the stakes.
“The results are gonna be revealed here. This is my Trump moment, this is reality TV.”
Graham then said there are legends in his family that connect him to the Cherokee Nation, which was based in the southeastern United States until 1838, when former President Andrew Jackson had the tribe forcibly removed to Oklahoma. (The same Cherokee Nation issued a blistering response Monday to the fanfare around Warren’s DNA results.)
“I’ve been told that my grandmother was part Cherokee Indian. It may all be just talk. But you’re going to find out in a couple of weeks, because I’m going to take this test,” Graham said.
Graham then vowed he would come out on top in the genealogy game.
“She’s less than one-tenth of one percent,” Graham said. “I think I can beat her.”
Check it out here. The DNA talk starts about the 5:15 mark.
Graham also joked he has a tangible prize in mind after talk turned to Trump’s one-time offer of a million dollars to a charity of Warren’s choosing if she submitted to a DNA test.
“Will you ask for a million dollars from the president, too?” Kilmeade asked.
“No, I want a casino and a million bucks,” Graham replied.
Graham had one more sound bite to dispense.
After host Brian Kilmeade said the test will determine “who you really are,” Graham was ready with a comeback.
“I’ll probably be Iranian. That would be, like, terrible,” he said.
Kilmeade sought to ameliorate any offense.
“Well, they have great people, just bad leaders,” he said.
“Yeah, bad leaders. I’m not in the ayatollah branch,” Graham replied.
Although Trump and Graham have pilloried Warren for her claims, she has been attacked for years, including during the 2012 election when she won her Senate seat. At the time, Warren’s claim that she was 1/32 Native American was ridiculed by a Denver Post blog.
“Anyone who self-identifies as a Native American based upon such negligible ancestry is pathetically desperate for minority status – for any number of reasons. Perhaps she yearns for some sort of ‘authenticity’ that she imagines being considered an Indian will confer. Maybe she thinks people will look on her differently. Maybe she is ashamed of the rest of her ancestry, or wants her colleagues to think she had more to overcome in life than she probably had,” the post said.
“Or maybe, just maybe, she thinks – or in Warren’s case, thought – claiming to be an Indian would be a good career move,” the post added.
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