President Trump said Monday that he will only make good on his $1 million bet about Sen. Elizabeth Warren’s (D-Mass.) Native American ancestry if he can test her “personally.”
Trump said he does not owe Warren the money because his original wager was contingent on her winning the 2020 Democratic primary and debating him during the campaign.
{mosads}”You mean if she gets the nomination in the debate where I was going to have her tested?” Trump told a reporter who asked whether he would honor the bet.
“I’ll only do it if I can test her personally, OK?” the president continued. “That will not be something I enjoy doing, either.”
Trump spoke in Georgia while he was touring damage from Hurricane Michael.
He was more than willing to verbally spar with Warren, whom he sees as an intriguing challenger in the 2020 race.
Warren released a video earlier Monday showing she took a DNA test that a researcher said “strongly supports” her claim she has a Native American ancestor.
The Massachusetts senator’s video referenced a July 5 campaign rally, during which Trump taunted her over her claims of Native heritage and said he would pay up if it’s proven she is “an Indian.”
“I will give you a million dollars, to your favorite charity, paid for by Trump, if you take the test and it shows you’re an Indian,” Trump said at the time. “I have a feeling she will say ‘no.’ “
Trump earlier Monday denied he ever made the offer, telling reporters, “I didn’t say that.”
But his later remarks appeared to reference the fact he made the comment while discussing a hypothetical presidential debate between himself and Warren.
“In the middle of the debate, when she proclaims that she is of Indian heritage because her mother said she has high cheek bones … we will take that little kit” and do the test, Trump said at the July rally.
The back-and-forth comes amid growing speculation the Massachusetts senator is readying her own presidential bid and she is making it clear she has no plans to back away from her claims of Native American ancestry.
In a series of tweets earlier Monday, Warren called on Trump to pay the $1 million to the nonprofit National Indigenous Women’s Resource Center (NIWRC).
“NIWRC is a nonprofit working to protect Native women from violence,” Warren said. “More than half of all Native women have experienced sexual violence, and the majority of violent crimes against Native Americans are perpetrated by non-Natives. Send them your $1M check.”
Trump suggested the test was bogus because it shows the senator is only “1/1000th” Native American.
“I owe her? She owes the country an apology,” he said.