Elizabeth Warren Clarifies Statement Where She Appeared to Take Credit for Starting Occupy Wall Street

"I created much of the intellectual foundation for what they do," Elizabeth Warren said in a Daily Beast interview published Oct. 24. With this statement many were lead to believe that Warren was taking some sort of credit for starting the Occupy movement.

"I support what they do," she added.

Since her initial claim, the Huffington Post has reported that The National Republican Senatorial Committee "pounced" on Warren's comments, pointing out that her support was "notable" since "Boston Police Department was recently forced to arrest at least 141 of her Occupy acolytes in Boston the other day after they threatened to tie up traffic downtown and refused to abide by their protest permit limits."

That might not sit well with voters in Massachusetts, however, where Warren is currently engaged in a tight race with Sen. Scott Brown.

In an interview Tuesday with a local reporter published in Mother Jones, Warren clarified her statements:

Alright, it is a grassroots movement and I am very pleased that they took responsibility for their movement and they are growing it the way they want to grow it.

I'm gonna have to actually go back and read what I said. I had a long conversation with someone about the Occupy Wall Street movement.

I said, I think, I've been protesting Wall Street for a very long time. And that I understand the frustration, I share their frustration, with what's going, that right now Washington is wired to work well for those on Wall Street who can hire lobbyists and lawyers and it doesn't work very well for the rest of us.

That's what I'm talking about, that's why I'm running for office, and that's it.

Responding to queries about the The National Republican Senatorial Committee's charges against her, Warren said:

I have been protesting Wall Street for a very long time. Occupy Wall Street is an organic movement, it expresses enormous frustration and gives a great faith all across the country for people to talk about what's broken.

So I am glad that that conversation is going forward and that it's going forward in an organic way.

As the HuffPo points out, her "intellectual foundation" comments are actually very similar to other statements Warren made about the Occupy Wherever earlier this month:

"Everyone has to follow the law, that has to be the starting place," she said. "But no one understands better what the frustration is right now. The people on Wall Street broke this country."