NC Cherokee criticize Lumbee claim that Trump's daughter has 'ancestral' tie

Joe Marusak, The Charlotte Observer on Oct 4, 2025

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The principal chief of the Cherokee Indians in North Carolina is criticizing a letter to President Donald Trump from the Lumbee that says Trump’s daughter Tiffany has “ancestral roots” in the southeastern North Carolina tribe.

The letter is a “desperate” maneuver as the Lumbee seek federal recognition, Michell Hicks, principal chief of the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians, said in a statement on social media Wednesday.

“It shows just how far the Lumbee are willing to go,” Hicks said.

Over the past year, however, Trump has already openly supported federal recognition of the Lumbee.

The Lumbee would overtake the Cherokee as the largest federally recognized tribe east of the Mississippi River, 55,000 members to around 13,000 enrolled EBCI members.

On Sept. 23, 2024, Trump announced that, if elected, he would “sign legislation granting the great Lumbee Tribe federal recognition that it deserves,” according to a White House news release.

On Jan. 23, he followed through on the promise, directing his secretary of the Interior to submit a plan to advance full federal recognition of the tribe.

The plan, submitted to the White House in April, punted the issue back to Congress, the Assembly reported in August.

“We anticipate the tribe will work with Congress on a path forward to be formally recognized,” Elizabeth Peace, a spokesperson for the Interior, said.

On Sept. 10, the U.S. House supported granting federal recognition to the Lumbee, McClatchy Media reported.

Rep. David Rouzer, a Republican, proposed an amendment to the National Defense Authorization Act to grant the recognition.

The Lumbee Tribe has 60,000 members in Robeson, Hoke, Scotland and Cumberland counties, making up the largest tribe east of the Mississippi River and the ninth largest in the country, the resolution says.

The Senate approved a version of the bill that differs significantly from the House version. The chambers must produce comprise legislation that Trump would then consider signing into law.

It wasn’t clear Saturday why the Lumbee sent the letter to Trump or if the tribe will respond to Hicks’ criticism. Taylor Davis, a tribal spokesperson, told The Charlotte Observer that she needed to check with tribal administrators before commenting.

This much is known about Tiffany Trump’s possible ties to the tribe:

Her grandmother, Laura Ann Locklear, died in 2014 at age 74 in Beverly Hills, California, public records show. Tiffany Trump’s mother is actor Marla Maples, Donald Trump’s Hollywood tabloids ex.

“The vast majority of Locklears are Lumbee Indian,” The Fayetteville Observer reported in 2021, citing a professor at the University of North Carolina, Pembroke. The Curt & Catherine Locklear American Indian Heritage Center is based on the campus.

Regardless of Tiffany Trump’s possible connection to the Lumbee, Hicks cried foul.

“If you are a true tribe, if you carry your history, your culture and your government through the generations, you do not need to search for celebrity ancestors or political connections to prove your identity,” he said.

“You do not need to rely on letters to the president to make your case,” Hicks said. “A true tribal nation’s identity speaks for itself. Federal recognition is not meant to be won by political rhetoric, made-up claims or backroom lobbying.”

Such tactics, Hicks said, “are not proof of sovereignty. They are signs of desperation, and desperation is not legitimacy.”

The Cherokee have long contested federal recognition of the Lumbee.

For many years, the Lumbee identified as “Cherokee Indians of Robeson County” before changing their name, and the Lumbee lack a documented lineage, the Cherokee say.

“The historical record raises very serious questions about the tribal and individual identity of the Lumbees,” former Cherokee Principal Chief Richard Sneed testified in 2020 before the House Subcommittee for Indigenous People, The Smoky Mountain News reported at the time. Most “cannot demonstrate any native ancestry at all.”