DEMOCRATIC PRESIDENTIAL HOPEFUL Elizabeth Warren has publicly apologised for calling herself Native American.

The Massachusetts Senator made the apology to reporters after the Washington Post reported that she listed her race as “American Indian” in a 1986 application to the Texas bar.

Asked why she had identified as such, Warren said it was because of “family stories” about their background.

“So, this was about 30 years ago. I am not a tribal citizen. Tribes, and only tribes, determine citizenship. When I was growing up, in Oklahoma, I learned about my family the same way that most people do. My brothers and I learned from our mom and our dad and our brothers and our sisters and those were our family stories,” Warren said.

But that said there really is an important distinction of tribal citizenship, I am not a member of a tribe and I have apologised for not being more sensitive to that distinction. It’s an important distinction.

Asked whether there may be further paperwork from the past which says the same, Warren suggested it was possible.

“So all I know is during this time period, this is consistent with what I did because it was based on my understanding from my family’s stories,“ Warren said according to Politico.

“But family stories are not the same as tribal citizenship.“

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Warren has previously said that her Native American ancestry is part of “family lore” and her identification has prompted jibes and slurs from President Donald Trump.

Trump, who regularly slurs her with the term “Pocahontas”, has claimed she benefited in schools and the workforce from minority status.

In response to that criticism, Warren took a DNA test and published the results last year.

Warren’s DNA test showed evidence of Native American heritage between six to ten generations back.

But the test was controversial for Native Americans, for whom being part of a tribe is cultural and includes living under tribal laws, rather than simple genetic links.

Warren subsequently apologised to the Cherokee Nation for taking the test.