Trump cracks Pocahontas 'joke' while hosting Native Americans
US President Donald J. Trump speaks during an event honoring the Native American code talkers in the Oval Office of the White House, in Washington, DC, USA, 27 November 2017. (EPA Photo)


U.S. President Donald Trump dubbed a Democratic rival "Pocahontas" Monday, during an event designed to honor Native American veterans in the White House's Oval Office.

Welcoming three aging Navajo "code talkers," who helped keep allied operations secret during World War II, Trump threw etiquette out the window to attack Senator Elizabeth Warren.

"You were here long before any of us were here," Trump said to one of the group.

"Although we have a representative in Congress who they say was here a long time ago. They call her Pocahontas," he continued, prompting staff to smother giggles.

It is a sobriquet Trump has repeatedly used to describe Warren, who has spoken about her mother's Native American ancestry and has been a political thorn in Trump's side.

During the remarks, Trump and the three veterans stood beneath a portrait of controversial president Andrew Jackson -- who ordered the forced removal of Native Americans from their ancestral land, causing thousands to die.

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