All three morning network shows Wednesday included reports on the bombshell that broke late February 5 by the Washington Post, revealing Sen. Elizabeth Warren identified as an “American Indian” on her registration card for The State Bar of Texas. Only NBC omitted the fact that this proves Warren had lied about never using her supposed minority status to advance her career.
By contrast, both ABC and CBS’s reports included Warren’s past claims of not using her heritage to help her career.
CBS This Morning only included a brief report, but it was the most forthcoming. Anchor John Dickerson stated that, “Warren previously said she had not used ethnicity to further her career, but the Post obtained Warren's registration card for the state bar of Texas dated 1986. On the line for race she wrote American Indian.”
ABC had the longest report on the story. On Good Morning America, Reporter Whit Johnson explained how Warren kept using these claims and they kept coming back to haunt her:
Senator Warren's biggest obstacle appears to be her own words and this time it's in writing. Her claims of Native American ancestry prompting yet another apology and she hasn't even formally launched her presidential campaign yet….Warren has been plagued by criticism by her various claims of Native American ancestry throughout her career...She defended her choice to list herself as a minority in a national directory of law professors.
After playing video clips of Warren defending calling herself a Native American, Johnson noted this story is again raising concern the Democrat used this status to help her professionally: “Now, a lot of the criticism has been over whether she used those claims of Native American heritage to advance her career. This now marks the earliest documentation of that claim, again she put it in writing while registering for a professional organization.” Anchor Robin Roberts added, “That changes things,” to which the ABC panel agreed.
NBC only included a short brief on the story and failed to call out Warren for using these claims to advance her career:
SAVANNAH GUTHRIE: Another item on politics, Senator Elizabeth Warren is apologizing for listing her race as American Indian on a 1986 registration card for the State Bar of Texas. This disclosure marks the latest twist in the controversy that has surrounded her and her claims to Native American ancestry. Last year Warren sparked backlash after publicly releasing test results that showed trace amounts of Native American DNA.
