GOP front-runner Carson pushes back against questions of honesty
Ben Carson emphatically defended himself on Sunday against mounting claims that he has embellished his biography as his Republican rival, Donald Trump, sought to cast new doubt on the honesty of the retired neurosurgeon.
In a series of interviews on Sunday morning news shows, Carson intensified his critique of the media, saying he was under such intense scrutiny because of the threat he poses to “the secular progressive movement in this country.”
In an interview with NBC News, Carson said he would not make his brother available to discuss the violent episodes of his youth, which he has described in his books. So far, nobody else has verified the dramatic and vividly recalled tales of Carson attempting to stab his friend and trying to strike his mother with a hammer.
“My brother’s not interested in talking to the media,” Carson said. “And a number of other people aren’t, either, that I’ve talked to.”
In a sign of how prominent his once-sleepy campaign has become Carson told CBS’ “Face the Nation,” that he now has protection from the Secret Service, which was prompted, he said, by threats to his safety.
“The way it works, you don’t get Secret Service protection unless there are credible threats,” Carson said.
Trump seemed to relish the chance to discuss the disputed anecdotes from Carson’s life – and to suggest that they might not be untrue. Appearing, by phone, on “Face The Nation,” NBC’s “Meet the Press” and CNN’s “State of the Union,” Trump mischievously said he wished Carson well, and then picked apart his stories.
Referring to the attempted stabbing, which Carson has said was blocked by his friend’s belt buckle, Trump seemed incredulous.
“When you say that you stabbed someone and were saved by a belt buckle,” Trump said, “and that’s pretty unlikely ’cause a belt buckle will turn. You know, a belt buckle is not going to stop a knife.”
Trump took a few liberties. Carson has written about a “pathological temper” in his childhood. Trump invoked the word repeatedly Sunday, saying that Carson has a “pathological disease” and suggesting it would be difficult for him to recover.
“You say in a book you have pathological disease – pathological disease is not cured,” Trump told CBS.
Trump ended with a note of sympathy for Carson that seemed to fall just short of sincere.
“I just don’t know what to think,” he said. “I hope it works out for him.”
Asked by NBC, after an intense week of scrutiny, if he was having fun on the campaign trail, Carson seemed weary.
“Would I have preferred to be doing something else? Certainly,” he said. “But it is important to me. And when I think about the sacrifices that were made by those who preceded us in order that we might have the freedom that we have now, it’s the very least that I can do.”
This story was originally published November 8, 2015 at 12:13 PM with the headline "GOP front-runner Carson pushes back against questions of honesty."