Elizabeth Warren is coming under fire from U.S. Senator Scott Brown, who has requested that she release her law school applications and personnel file earlier this week. Brown said that Warren should clarify her Native American heritage and has to answer the question of “whether it was appropriate for her to assume minority status as a professor.” Brown’s demands come only a couple of days after Harvard was asked to investigate ‘academic fraud’ possibly committed by Warren by the Massachusetts Republican Party.
“Serious questions have been raised about the legitimacy of Elizabeth Warren’s claims to Native American ancestry and whether it was appropriate for her to assume minority status as a college professor. Her changing stories, contradictions and refusal to answer legitimate questions have cast doubt on her credibility and called into question the diversity practices at Harvard,” Brown said in a prepared statement.
Brown’s statement also said the following: “The best way to satisfy these questions is for Elizabeth Warren to authorize the release of her law school applications and all personnel files from the various universities where she has taught. I have released hundreds of pages of confidential employment records relating to my 32-year career in the National Guard, and I would encourage Professor Warren to do the same with respect to her personnel records and previous applications. As candidates for high public office, we have a duty to be transparent and open and not hide behind a wall of silence in the midst of public controversy.”
Warren claims that she first learned of her Delaware and Cherokee heritage through stories from her family and a genealogist who found evidence that says Warren could be 1/32 Cherokee. Harvard Law School has said multiple times that Warren’s Native American heritage was not a factor when they decided to hire her as a professor. A spokeswoman for Warren said that Brown’s questions have been answered with the following statement:
“Once again, Republican Senator Brown is shamelessly attempting to divert attention from his record on the issues that really matter in this election, like the cost of student loans,” said Alethea Harney. “Minutes after Scott Brown voted with his Republican party to double interest rates on student loans, he ridiculously attacked Elizabeth Warren with questions that have already been answered.”
The demands from Brown come not long after Democrats from the state accused Brown of creating a secret ‘New York City finance committee.’ They claim that the secret committee aides Brown in raising money from corporations.
“Republican Senator Scott Brown is on Wall Street begging industry execs in New York City and delivering for them in Washington DC,” said Massachusetts Democratic Party Chair John Walsh in a statement. “Brown has a clear record of putting the interests of big banks and Wall Street ahead of Massachusetts families and now he is refusing to come clean about who is on his New York City Finance Committee and what they’ve been promised in return for raising campaign cash.”