Sen. Scott Brown (R-Mass.) accused his Democratic opponent, Elizabeth Warren, of failing the truth test as the Massachusetts Senate candidates traded shots Thursday in dueling television appearances.
Brown accused Warren of lying about her Native American heritage, bringing up a controversy that has dogged the Democrats for months.
“It’s funny — when you’re running for office, especially high elective office, you have to pass a test, and the test is about truthfulness and credibility and honesty, and quite frankly, she's failed that test as evidence of her claiming to be a Native American and checking the box and making misrepresentations to not only Harvard but Penn,” Brown said on "Fox and Friends."
Warren fired back during an appearance on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe,” saying Brown “doesn’t want to talk about real issues.”
“He doesn't want to talk about what's happening to America's families, what's
happening to families here in Massachusetts,” she said.
Brown brought up the heritage controversy after he was asked about Warren’s charge that he is too close to Wall Street. Warren is a liberal hero for her work in setting up the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau as part of financial reform legislation, and she has charged that Brown has tried to undermine that legislation.
Brown has fired back that he helped get the Dodd-Frank financial reform bill through Congress.
“She can rewrite her history but she can't rewrite mine. It's very clear that I was the deciding vote and proud to be so,” Brown said Thursday. “As a matter of fact I remember her being on the White House lawn saying that this is the 'strongest bill in three generations.' ”
No documentation has been found that shows Warren is of Cherokee descent, but after news broke that she had been identified as of Native American heritage at Harvard and the University of Pennsylvania, she said her family had talked to her about the American Indian background.
Warren several weeks ago acknowledged she had told the two schools of her background after she was hired.
Polling so far has indicated that the stories have not damaged Warren’s candidacy. She and Brown are in a tight race that is expected to be the most expensive Senate race in the country.
