Warren concedes she told Harvard and Penn about Native American ancestry

Democratic U.S. Senate candidate Elizabeth Warren, right, takes questions from members of the media as Mass. Gov. Deval Patrick, left, looks on during an event at Warren's campaigns headquarters, in Somerville, Mass., Wednesday, May 30, 2012.

/ AP Photo/Steven Senne

Updated: 2:09 p.m. ET

(CBS News) After more than a month of scrutiny surrounding Elizabeth Warren's past claims to Native American lineage, the Democratic Massachusetts Senate candidate on Thursday acknowledged for the first time that she had told several employers about her purported Cherokee heritage.

Previously, Warren had said she had been unaware that Harvard Law School touted her as a Native American employee during her tenure there.

"I think I read it on the front page of the Herald," Warren said in late April, when asked about Harvard's having promoted her purported minority status.

On Thursday, however, her campaign released a statement that would seem to contradict that claim.

"As I have confirmed before, I let people know about my Native American heritage in a national directory of law school personnel," Warren said in the statement. "At some point after I was hired by them, I also provided that information to the University of Pennsylvania and Harvard. My Native American heritage is part of who I am, I'm proud of it and I have been open about it."

Republican Sen. Scott Brown, whom Warren is hoping to unseat, has been highly critical of Warren's changing story on the matter.

Questions about whether or not Warren is truly Native American has been dogging her since April, when the Globe first reported that she had listed herself as such in the Association of American Law Schools (AALS) deskbook for a number of years in the 1980s and 1990s.

Since then, Warren has repeatedly defended the claims to her heritage and has disputed the notion that she improperly identified as Native American in order to further her professional career. But she has not provided any genealogical proof to back up her assertions, citing instead family lore.

"Growing up, my mother and my grandparents and my aunts and uncles often talked about our family's Native American heritage. As a kid, I never thought to ask them for documentation - what kid would? - but that doesn't change the fact that it is a part of who I am and part of my family heritage," Warren's Thursday statement said.

At a press conference Thursday, Brown suggested that Warren's parents had exaggerated about her heritage. "My mom and dad have told me a lot of things too, but they're not always true," he said.

Warren blasted Brown for bringing her parents into the fray, calling his comments "totally out of line" and urging him to apologize.

"I resent him questioning their honesty," Warren said in a statement. "My mother and father are not here to defend themselves and should be off limits. Don and Pauline Herring are not fair game and Scott Brown should apologize."

According to the Bureau of Indian Affairs, the federal government does not officially recognize a person as an American Indian unless he or she has had status conferred upon them by one of 566 federally recognized tribes, according to the Bureau of Indian Affairs. A Certificate Degree of Indian Blood (CDIB) can also be obtained to prove that a person has Native American blood, though it does not confer tribal status.

Recently, a group called Cherokees Demand Truth from Elizabeth Warren launched a website calling Warren's claims to Native American lineage "harmful and offensive to us."

"Cherokees Demand Truth from Elizabeth Warren is a group of authentic Cherokees and descendants devoted to sharing the truth about our history," reads a statement on the website. "Our mission is to help people understand what a real Cherokee is and to show why Elizabeth Warren claiming to be Cherokee without proof is harmful and offensive to us."

And on Wednesday, a Boston Herald story highlighted another story of Warren's that has come under some scrutiny: In 2011, she told an audience at the Chicago Humanities Festival that she was "the first nursing mother to take a bar exam in the state of New Jersey."

Her campaign responded to questions about that assertion by arguing that Warren was talking about the challenges of being a working mom. But Marisa DeFranco, Warren's Democratic challenger for the nomination is looking to disabuse Massachusetts Democrats of the notion that Warren's nomination is inevitable.

"There's no such thing as a presumption in politics," DeFranco said earlier this week, of Warren's presumed nomination. "I mean, it's proven over and over again: As soon as you presume something you're proven wrong."

DeFranco is currently fighting to get on the Democratic ballot alongside Warren. In order to do that, she'll need to win more than 15 percent of Democratic delegate votes this weekend at the Massachusetts Democratic State Convention.

[Bevcater]

Before attacking this woman instead challenge her into taking a DNA
Native American test.

This should set the record straight.

[skivtyo]

I wonder if the media will ever ask Obama if he supports Elizabeth Warren's candidacy given all the apparent deceit.......well actually I don't really wonder, but it would be interesting to know at any rate...

[theskeptical1]

>But she has not provided any genealogical proof to back up her assertions, citing instead family lore.

Well according to my "family lore" I am the direct descendant of one of the kings of Ireland. So, Professor Warren, if you will address me as "Your Majesty" then I will refer to you as "Princess Cherokee".

Do we have a deal?

[theskeptical1]

>"Growing up, my mother and my grandparents and my aunts and uncles often talked about our family's Native American heritage." . . Warren's Thursday statement said.

>Warren blasted Brown for bringing her parents into the fray,

Uh Lizzie, Brown didn't bring your "parents into the fray" - YOU did so by using them as an excuse for your self-serving, fraudulent claim to minority status. You really are shameless, aren't you?

And how about those 'authentic American Indian' recipes you contributed to the so-called "Pow Wow Chow Cookbook", especially the one for gourmet Crab Dip? I understand the Cherokees ate a lot of that on the 'Trail of Tears'. But of course you actually plagiarized the recipe straight out of the New York Times, didn't you?

Every time it appears that Dizzy Lizzy's campaign can't get any funnier it then turns downright hilarious!

[ByondPolitics]

"What kid would?" ummm... many kids I know.... at least all the ones interested in their heritage beyond ridiculous claims about cheekbones.

Certainly any respectable adult who is interested in honesty and integrity... not to mention participating in culture.

It's despicable that you'd think that sharing recipes for crab with other wannabe's.... is all it takes to reach out to others like you.

[Molly-Pchr]

liar, liar, pants on fire

[tressag5]

I need grnfrg to comment again. There have been far too many comments without your input. It's so hard to tell who's right and who's wrong without you.

[greenlantern1]

Presdient Calvin Coolidge pretended to be the Great White Father complete with an Indian headdress.
Is Sen. Brown outraged?

[Earlsoutham]

She really doesn't get it. She got caught lying, and now like a two year old whines that Scott Brown shouldn't attack her family? She started the lie.

She is NOT ready for politics and is too thin skinned. She's also clearly not used to being challenged about her lies.

Does she honestly think that blaming Brown for her own lies is going to work? Instead of foisting the blame on him, she needs to find that -ahem- documentation.

She says "What kid asks their parents for documentation?" She's not a kid anymore. She's a 62 year old Harvard law professor who should have found documentation before checking the box that she was NAtive American.

If she can't stand the heat of a campaign, she needs to get out of the kitchen.

She's really lost it...

[greenlantern1]

Would the party, of Nixon, lie to you?

[theskeptical1]

>She's also clearly not used to being challenged about her lies.

But at the time it was just such a 'convenient' lie. By hiring her Harvard raked in some badly needed diversity points and of course Lizzy jumped herself to the front of the line ahead of many far better qualified candidates. It was a cute little Win-Win situation for both parties involved, right?

Of course neither she nor Harvard imagined that their little exercise in PC chicanery would ever see the light of day. But now it has caught up with them, and Warren is revealed as an affirmative action charlatan and Harvard as her accomplice in fraud. I hope they both like eggs, because that's what they have all over their faces.

[lasvegasteacher]

The Tea Party Republicans, who are trying to keep Elizabeth Warren out of the Senate, get a lot of mileage by picking some preposterous non-issue on which to focus. The object is to put her on the defensive, to distract voters from focusing on real issues. They did the same thing to Obama by questioning his citizenship.
Scott Brown has nothing worthwhile to say, so he had to stoop to this ridiculous circus. What an insult to the American voters, who are looking for solutions to our nation's problems. We need Elizabeth Warren who is a creative problem solver in the Senate. Let Scott Brown find another venue to play the buffoon. Perhaps he can run away and join the circus.