Trump jokes about #MeToo and takes aim at Elizabeth Warren during Montana rally

President challenges Democrat senator to take DNA test to prove Native American ancestry

Donald Trump mocked the #MeToo campaign against sexual assault and took aim at two of his most vocal Democratic opponents, Elizabeth Warren and Maxine Waters, during his latest US midterm election rally.

Taunting Ms Warren about his refusal to stop calling her “Pocahontas” over the Massachusetts senator's claims of Native American ancestry, Mr Trump told the Montana crowd he would toss her a DNA testing kit, "but we have to do it gently because we're in the #MeToo generation, so we have to be very gentle".

"We will very gently take that kit, and we will slowly toss it, hoping it doesn’t hit her and injure her arm,” joked Mr Trump, adding that he would donate $1m (£750,000) to charity if Ms Warren accepted his challenge.

The #MeToo movement has been at the forefront of exposing rampant sexual misconduct and sexual harassment across multiple industries.

But for Mr Trump it became just another punchline in an hour-long, unscripted address, geeing up his base beneath banners reading “Promises Made, Promises Kept".

“Get your ass out to vote,” he instructed the roaring crowd. “We will never, ever surrender. We will never, ever quit. We go forward to victory.”

The rally came on the same day that the White House announced the hiring of former Fox News Channel executive, Bill Shine, as the president's assistant and deputy chief of staff for communications..

Mr Shine was ousted from the network last year following multiple lawsuits suggesting he ignored alleged sexual harassment by Fox’s late chairman and chief executive, Roger Ailes – claims Mr Shine denies.

More than a dozen women have accused Mr Trump of sexual assault or improper conduct – all of which are allegations he denies.

Mr Trump received bipartisan condemnation during the 2016 presidential election after the tapes of his 2005 conversation with TV host, Billy Bush, emerged. In them, Mr Trump bragged about using his fame to try and "f***" women.

Ms Warren shot back at Mr Trump's remarks late on Thursday, railing against his administration’s “zero tolerance” immigration policy, which has separated of thousands of migrant children from their parents

“Hey, @realDonaldTrump: While you obsess over my genes, your Admin is conducting DNA tests on little kids because you ripped them from their mamas & you are too incompetent to reunite them in time to meet a court order,” Ms Warren tweeted. “Maybe you should focus on fixing the lives you’re destroying.”

Mr Trump also poured scorn on Ms Warren's fellow Democrat, Maxine Waters, the veteran Democrat who represents California in Congress.

Ms Waters's call for aggressive protests against Trump administration officials drew the president’s ire last month. In a 25 June tweet, Mr Trump derided her as an "extraordinarily low IQ person".

Reviving this sobriquet to raucous cheers from the crowd, Mr Trump added what appeared to be his own personal assessment. “I mean, honestly, she’s somewhere in the mid-60s, I believe,” said the president.

A spokeswoman for Ms Waters did not immediately respond to a request for comment.