Within hours of the appearance of the video, Kim TallBear, a professor at the University of Alberta and a leading expert on the use of DNA testing in tribal communities, posted a statement. Sharply critical of Warren’s behavior and publicity surrounding the test, she pointed out that tribal governments have developed an approach for determining who belongs to a tribe that is explicitly not based on the results of DNA tests. Still, she wrote, Warren and her staff “know very well that the broader US public will understand a DNA test to be a true indication of Elizabeth Warren’s right to claim Native American identity in some way.”