Standing in the Oval Office alongside three World War II code talkers, Mr. Trump made the unscripted comment after other officials praised the veterans’ history and contributions.
WASHINGTON — President Trump used a White House event honoring Navajo veterans of World War II on Monday to utter a favorite Native American-related insult of a political opponent, deriding Senator Elizabeth Warren as “Pocahontas.”
Standing in the Oval Office alongside three World War II Navajo code talkers, Mr. Trump made the unscripted comment after other officials praised the veterans’ history and contributions.
“You were here long before any of us were here,” Mr. Trump said as he turned to look at the code talkers. “Although we have a representative in Congress who they say was here a long time ago. They call her Pocahontas.”
Mr. Trump was referring, as he often has, to Ms. Warren, a former Harvard Law School professor who came under fire in 2012 after it emerged that, during her academic career, she identified herself as a minority, citing Native American roots.
Ms. Warren, Democrat of Massachusetts, appeared on television shortly after Mr. Trump’s comment and was asked for her reaction.
“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,” she said on MSNBC .
Mr. Trump’s use of “Pocahontas” has drawn objections in the past from a number of Native Americans, many of whom regard his mention of the historical figure as offensive and divisive.
But on Monday, the White House defended the remark. Sarah Huckabee Sanders, the White House press secretary, said the name was not a racial slur.
“What most people find offensive is Senator Warren lying about her heritage to advance her career,” Ms. Sanders said.
