Elizabeth Warren grilled over false Native American heritage claims. Her excuse says it all.

In an interview that aired Saturday, former Obama adviser David Axelrod, who now hosts "The Axe Files" on CNN, grilled Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) over her decision to claim Native American heritage for decades.

Warren is running for the 2020 Democratic presidential nomination.

What happened?

Noting the issue has "dogged" Warren since entering the national political stage in 2012, Axelrod had just one question for Warren: "Why?"

"The question I've never understood is: Why? Why did you in 1986 fill out on your law license, or something, Native American? Why did you check those boxes? Because obviously that's a very small part of your lineage, 1/32nd or something. So why did you do it?" Axelrod asked.

In a long-winded response, Warren attributed her dishonesty to how she allegedly learned about her family heritage.

"Based on what I learned growing up, and the fact that I love my family, decades ago I sometimes identified as Native America," Warren explained.

However, the Massachusetts senator went on to explain that she now regrets her false claims, an admission she has only recently made after she released DNA results proving Native American heritage is a minuscule part of her family lineage.

"Even so, I shouldn't have done it. I'm not a person of color. I am not a citizen of a tribe," Warren admitted. "What I try to do is to be a good friend to Native Americans and that's why for example, I have a housing bill that fully funds housing on tribal reservations."

What else did Warren say?

When asked if publicly releasing the results of her DNA test and a video rebutting President Donald Trump's "Pocahontas" moniker was a "mistake," Warren equivocated.

"I can't go back. All I can do is look forward," Warren said.

Warren's well documented lie about her heritage has already become one of the hallmark issues of her presidential campaign, not that it hasn't already dogged her entire political career. Indeed, voters routinely question Warren about her dishonesty at campaign stops.