[WATCH] Trump makes 'Pocahontas' joke as ceremony honouring Native American veterans

US president Donald Trump made a racial joke concerning Native Americans on Monday, during a White House ceremony honouring Navajo veterans of World War II.

Addressing Native American veterans, Trump repeated a taunt about Democratic senator named Elizabeth Warren, a political opponent who he refers to as “Pocahontas.”

“You were here long before any of us were here,” said Trump, addressing the veterans from a podium placed in front of a portrait of former US president Andrew Jackson.

Elizabeth Warren (Photo: Progressive Spring)

“Although we have a representative in Congress, who they say was here a long time ago. They call her Pocahontas.”

Trump has repeatedly mocked Warren over her claim of Cherokee ancestry by referring to her as Pocahontas, who was the daughter of a powerful Native American leader in the 17th century colonial Virginia, whose legacy was romantisiced  in the Disney movie of the same name.

Pocahontas depicted in the Disney film

During the campaign, Trump’s use drew cheers but on Monday, the audience remained silent.

Warren, from Massachusetts, has a long record of sparring with Trump and later said that it was “deeply unfortunate” that the “president of the United States cannot even make it through a ceremony honouring these heroes without having to throw out a racial slur.”

The White House disputed the characterisation and blamed the senator for not being forthcoming regarding her ancestry.

“I think what most people find offensive is Senator Warren lying about her heritage to advance her career,” said Sarah Sanders, the White House press secretary on Monday.

Referring to the concept of Trump’s words being a “racial slur”, Sanders said: “I think that’s a ridiculous response.”

Sanders went on to deny that Trump had insulted elderly guests who served the nation during the war.

“The president certainly finds an extreme amount of value and respect for these individuals which is why he brought them and invited them to come to the White House, spent time with them, recognising and honouring them today,” she said.

As Sanders left the briefing room, a reporter shouted why Trump’s remark took place under a portrait of former president Andrew Jackson, who was notorious for the forced removal of Native Americans but Sanders did not respond.

The line of attack of Warren’s ancestry goes back to 2012, during her senatorial campaign, when it was revealed that she had listed herself as a minority while working at the University of Pennsylvania Law School and Harvard Law School.

Warren said she believed her family had Cherokee ancestors, though critics have argued that she sought to gain an unfair advantage by claiming Native American roots. Both universities denied that Warren’s race was a factor in her hiring.

Trump held the ceremony hosting the Navajo code talkers in the Oval Office, where a large portrait of Jackson was hung, who in 1830, signed the Indian Removal Act, which led to the forced removal, relocation and deaths of thousands of Native Americans.