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Elizabeth O’Bagy, the Syria researcher at the center of a week-long controversy surrounding her academic credentials and her work with the Syrian opposition, admitted for the first time to The Daily Beast she was never enrolled in a Ph.D. program despite representations she made to the press and multiple organizations for whom she worked. O’Bagy, whose work on the Syrian opposition was hailed by Secretary of State John Kerry and Sen. John McCain (R-AZ), was fired from her job as the lead Syria researcher at the Institute for the Study of War on Sept. 10 after it was revealed that...

A Washington scholar whose writings on Syria were touted by top U.S. officials in making the case for a military strike has been fired from the Institute for the Study of War for allegedly lying about her education credentials. The development comes after Elizabeth O'Bagy's credibility and objectivity had come under scrutiny over her work with a Syrian opposition advocacy group. The institute, where she had worked as a senior analyst, on Wednesday posted a terse statement on its website claiming she also misled the organization about having a Ph.D. "The Institute for the Study of War has learned and...

The Syria researcher whose Wall Street Journal op-piece was cited by Secretary of State John Kerry and Sen. John McCain during congressional hearings about the use of force has been fired from the Institute for the Study of War for lying about having a Ph.D., the group announced on Wednesday. “The Institute for the Study of War has learned and confirmed that, contrary to her representations, Ms. Elizabeth O’Bagy does not in fact have a Ph.D. degree from Georgetown University,” the institute said in a statement. “ISW has accordingly terminated Ms. O’Bagy’s employment, effective immediately.” O’Bagy told POLITICO’s Kate Brannen...

In a recent interview, a well-known professor who taught at Columbia University for 46 years questioned whether or not President Obama actually attended the Ivy League school. Prominent Columbia professor Henry Graff says he isn't sure President Obama ever attended the Ivy League school. “I taught every significant politician that ever studied at Columbia,” said Columbia Emeritus Professor of History Henry Graff, in an interview last week with Wayne Root, a contributor at The Blaze. “Between American History and Diplomatic History, one way or another, they all had to come through my classes.” “Not Obama,” he continued. “I never had...

A controversial donor with ties to prominent Democrats who is under investigation by the FBI may not have the qualifications he claims. The resume of Dr. Salomon Melgen, a Florida-based ophthalmologist and controversial Democratic donor, boasts medical education and experience at Harvard University, Yale University, and the University of Missouri. But none of those schools says it can find any record of Melgen, who claims to be a Harvard alumnus, the former chief resident of the University of Missouri’s ophthalmology department, and a former Yale intern. Questions concerning Melgen’s background are also coming to light. According to his biography, posted...

Only in Massachusetts could a lowlife bottom feeder like Elizabeth Warren ever be considered for high office. Putting aside her hard-core followers, her true believing cadres who would follow her off a cliff, I can understand why many mainstream Massachusetts Democrats are supporting her. They support her because they want revenge against Scott Brown for taking the "Kennedy seat" during the special election two years ago. To accomplish this they have decided to hold their noses and shut their eyes and ears. Where should I start? It difficult to know when so much about Elizabeth Warren is based upon lies....

The death certificate of Elizabeth Warren's aunt Bess "Bea" Veneck, who famously told the Massachusetts Democrat that her grandfather's "high cheekbones" belied Warren's Cherokee heritage, identifies Veneck as "white" and not "Native American." Warren officially informed the state of Oklahoma of Veneck's death in 1999. William Jacobson reports: So Aunt Bea was Indian, sharing the same ancestry as Warren, according to Warren, and that ancestry was such an important part of who Aunt Bea was that she told the story about the high cheekbones at least a thousand times. Yet when Aunt Bea died, she was not identified as American...

SOMERVILLE (FOX 25 / MyFoxBoston.com) - Democratic U.S. Senate candidate Elizabeth Warren received a boost on Wednesday from none other than Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick. Gov. Patrick, Warren, and grassroots supporters met on Wednesday at her campaign headquarters in Somerville just days before Democrats head to Springfield for the party's nominating convention. Warren has endured a rough few weeks following controversy regarding her Native American ancestry. At the event, Gov. Patrick stepped in and responded to a question about Warren's ancestry from FOX 25's Sharman Sacchetti. In part, Gov. Patrick replied, "On behalf of the people of the Commonwealth, we...

Elizabeth Warren challenged by Cherokee groupBy MJ LEE | 5/30/12 3:07 PM EDT Updated: 5/30/12 9:47 PM EDT A group of Cherokees have organized and launched a website disputing Elizabeth Warren’s claims to Native American heritage. Some 150 people purporting to be “concerned” members and descendants of three Cherokee tribes have put up a new website called “Cherokees Demand Truth From Elizabeth Warren.” The group is demanding that the Massachusetts Senate candidate come clean about her heritage – a topic that has dominated media coverage of Warren’s bid again incumbent Republican Sen. Scott Brown ever since it was revealed that...

Alternate headline: “Fake Indian in real trouble.” I don’t know, guys. I’m grudgingly coming around to the idea that maybe it’d be better if she won in November. We can’t afford to lose her; she’s a daily one-woman content goldmine for the blogosphere, every bit the equal of Martha Coakley. A blogger has to eat, and she’s serving up an awful lot of pow wow traffic chow. But apparently it’s based on someone else’s recipe: "Two of the possibly plagiarized recipes, said in the Pow Wow Chow cookbook to have been passed down through generations of Oklahoma Native American members...

For nearly three weeks, Scott Brown’s campaign has been battering Elizabeth Warren for listing herself as a Native American on a legal directory and then being billed as a minority law professor at Harvard University. Now, Warren has a Democratic critic, too. Warren’s primary opponent, Marisa DeFranco, who is trying to raise her profile in the race, is arguing that voters should be concerned about Warren’s “lack of a clear, consistent message” in response to the Native American controversy. “I’m not sure what her answer is because it’s been so various,” DeFranco said today. DeFranco said that, in general, it...

Arizona's secretary of state said Friday he had asked officials in Hawaii to verify that Barack Obama was born in their state in order for the president's name to appear on the November ballot in Arizona. Ken Bennett, who is Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney's campaign co-chairman in Arizona, said he made the request on behalf of a constituent. Earlier this year, hardline Arizona sheriff Joe Arpaio announced that an investigation by his office had found that Obama's birth certificate was a forgery. Most Republican critics of Obama have given up pushing widely discredited long-running allegations that he was not...

If I might make one suggestion before the updated version of the “Pow Wow Chow” cookbook is released: Next time, Liz, hold the mayo. Even if you were 1/1000th Native American — which you’re not — and even if Cherokees did hold pow wows — which Cherokee genealogist Twila Barnes told the Herald yesterday they don’t — even then, your contribution to authentic teepee cuisine is “Crab With Tomato Mayonnaise Dressing?” Why didn’t you throw in Tuna Casserole and Some Twinkies while you’re at it? Like her recipe (“serve salad with remaining mayo on the side”), everything about Liz Warren...

The race for U.S. Senate in Massachusetts has taken a turn toward the absurd. The contest pits two highly qualified candidates — Scott Brown, the incumbent, who made history by snatching Ted Kennedy’s seat away from the Democrats, and challenger Elizabeth Warren, the Harvard Law professor and whiz-kid of the Obama administration who created the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. If any election could be counted on to maintain a high-minded tone and stick to important issues, it’s this one. Instead, Topic A is Warren’s facial features. From a campaign standpoint, Warren hasn’t done much to end this silly brouhaha. She...

Elizabeth Warren was touting her claim of Cherokee heritage as early as 1984, according to a cookbook titled “Pow Wow Chow” edited by her cousin that includes Warren’s recipes for a savory crab omelet and spicy barbecued beans. The cookbook, edited by Warren’s cousin Candy Rowsey, is a compilation of “special recipes passed down through the Five Tribes families,” according to the introduction in a copy obtained by the Herald. Warren, who has been under fire for claiming Indian lineage despite a lack of documentation, is identified as “Elizabeth Warren, Cherokee” under each of five recipes she contributes in the...

Teaching her class at Harvard Law School one day, professor Elizabeth Warren called on a student who was unprepared. The student said, “I’ll pass.” Warren’s response was, “Not likely.” That story, passed from one class to the next about Warren, exemplifies the way colleagues and former students view the Democratic candidate for the U.S. Senate from Massachusetts. Warren is known as a tough and demanding professor. She is also dynamic, well-prepared and treats each student as an individual, past students and colleagues say. “She expects a lot,” said Adam Levitin, a professor at Georgetown Law School who was a student...

For over a quarter of a century, Elizabeth Warren has described herself as a Native American. When recently asked to provide evidence of her ancestry, she pointed to an unsubstantiated claim on an 1894 Oklahoma Territory marriage license application by her great-great grand uncle William J. Crawford that his mother, O.C. Sarah Smith Crawford, Ms. Warren's great-great-great grandmother, was a Cherokee.After researching her story, it is obvious that her "family lore" is just fiction. As I pointed out in my article here on Sunday, no evidence supports this claim. O.C. Sarah Smith Crawford had no Cherokee heritage, was listed as...

U.S. Sen. Scott Brown demanded that Elizabeth Warren release her law school applications and personnel files today, saying questions about Warren’s Native American heritage mean she must answer, “whether it was appropriate for her to assume minority status as a professor.” The demand comes two days after the Massachusetts Republican Party called for Harvard to investigate potential “academic fraud” committed by Warren. “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...

Shelly Lowe, executive director of Harvard University's Native American Program (HUNAP), told Breitbart News today that U.S. Senate candidate Elizabeth Warren had not, to her knowledge, participated in the program's events while Warren was a professor at Harvard. Last week, Warren explained that she had listed herself as Native American "in the hopes that it might mean that I would be invited to a luncheon, a group something that might happen with people who are like I am." However, she had not been involved in HUNAP, the most obvious avenue for meeting fellow Native American faculty and students. Warren, who is...

BOSTON — There’s a reason why most would-be politicians start by running for lesser offices, as Massachusetts Democrats are finding to their chagrin this spring, as their anointed US Senate candidate springs one unpleasant surprise after another. Elizabeth Warren, a 62-year-old Harvard Law School professor, seemed to have all the right stuff to regain the lost Senate seat of the late Ted Kennedy from Republican usurper Scott Brown. In this bluest of states, she remains competitive, out-fund-raising the incumbent 2 to 1 in the last quarter. In recent statewide polls, she’s been running even or slightly ahead. Yet her campaign...