2020 candidate Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) has been on an apology tour recently over her false claims of having a Native American ancestry. But one Native American Democratic Congresswoman is coming to her defense.

Freshman Rep. Deb Haaland (NM) was interviewed Monday by CNN and during the course of the interview Haaland gave Warren permission to “identify” as a Native American (bolded emphasis added):

Haaland, however, suggested in a CNN interview that “someone decides on their own” how to identify themselves and it wasn’t her place to tell them otherwise. She is one of two Native American women in Congress.

“I am an enrolled member of a tribe in New Mexico. Senator Warren is very cognizant of the fact that tribes determine tribal membership,” Haaland said. “She wasn’t trying to be an enrolled member of the tribe. Also, I would never tell anyone how they should identify themselves. Someone decides on their own.”

“What I know about Senator Warren is that she has fought for working families for a heck of a long time,” she added. “She has returned billions to Americans who have been ripped off by big banks, and I’d like to see her and she will continue to work hard for working families and make sure that people have a fair deal in this country.”

Watch the video clip of the exchange below, via Free Beacon:

As a candidate for Congress, Haaland tweeted out her support for Warren in October when the Senator believed she had unquestionable “proof” of her ancestry:

Senator Elizabeth Warren’s DNA test confirms the family history she has long shared with the world, and I acknowledge her Native ancestry as testament to who we are as Americans. https://t.co/35t0McQoPC

— Deb Haaland (@Deb4CongressNM) October 15, 2018

Except the “proof” turned out to not be “proof” at all:

Boston Globe issues another correction on the Warren story: She is "between 1/64th and 1/1,024th Native American.” https://t.co/km3p4z5ycO

— Jake Sherman (@JakeSherman) October 15, 2018

As media reporter Joe Concha noted at the time:

Later in the day, the Cherokee Nation delivered what appeared to be the decisive blow to Warren’s claim, calling it “inappropriate” and “a mockery.”

“Using a DNA test to lay claim to any connection to the Cherokee Nation or any tribal nation, even vaguely, is inappropriate and wrong,” said Cherokee Nation Secretary of State Chuck Hoskin Jr. in a statement. “It makes a mockery out of DNA tests and its legitimate uses while also dishonoring legitimate tribal governments and their citizens, whose ancestors are well documented and whose heritage is proven.”

I truly mean no disrespect to Haaland but how can someone like Warren just “claim” Native American status and it be ok without having the proof to back it up? It’s crazy enough that people can claim to be a gender that they aren’t, but at least in some of those cases, those identifying as a different gender have surgery to, um, change certain things. You can’t do that when it comes to your heritage.

Oh well. Warrren may be able to, in theory, “identify” as a Native American but when it comes to actual ancestry, Senator Marco Rubio has her beat.

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—Sister Toldjah is a former liberal and a 15+ year veteran of blogging with an emphasis on media bias, social issues, and the culture wars. Read her Red State archives here. Connect with her on Twitter.–