
Trumpcalled a Democratic rival "Pocahantas" while hosting Native Americans veterans at the White House Monday.
The Native Americans had been "wind talkers" -- Navajo Indians who helped keep Allied operations secret during World War II.
"You were here long before any of us were here," Trump said to one of them.
"Although we have a representative in Congress who they say was here a long time ago. They call her Pocahontas," he added.
Trump has continuously referred to Democratic senator Elizabeth Warren as "Pocahontas".
White House spokeswoman Sarah Sanders disagreed that Trump's remark was a racial slur and said that Warren's lies about her ancestry were the offensive part.
Warren has spoken about her mother's Native American ancestry and has been a political thorn in Trump's side.
"I think what most people find offensive is Senator Warren lying about her heritage to advance her career," Sanders told reporters.
Trump and the veterans, as they spoke, had been standing beneath a portrait of controversial President Andrew Jackson -- who ordered the forced removal of Native Americans from their ancestral lands, causing thousands to die.