WASHINGTON – Donald Trump has launched his fiercest attack yet on rival Ben Carson, who has quickly caught up to him in some early polls. In a series of tweets posted Thursday night and Friday morning, Trump wrote that some of Carson’s childhood stories might be “total fabrication” and mocked the retired surgeon for saying the Egyptian pyramids were built to store grain, not as tombs for rulers.
“Don’t people get it?” Trump wrote at one point.
Carson has come under scrutiny this week after CNN investigated a key part of his autobiography: Carson says he had a “pathological temper” as a child and teenager that resulted in a series of violent attacks on others. Carson wrote in his 1990 autobiography that he once punched a classmate with his hand wrapped around a lock, tried to attack his mother with a hammer, threw a large rock at a boy’s face and tried to stab a friend, although the blade hit the boy’s belt buckle and he was not injured. Carson said that God later intervened and he put his life on a less violent track.
CNN interviewed nine of Carson’s childhood friends, classmates and neighbors, who described a kind and quiet child who was never violent. Carson’s campaign has called this investigative report a “witch hunt,” and Carson called it “silly” on Fox News on Thursday.
“When I would have flashes of temper, it would only be the people who were directly involved,” Carson explained on Fox News. “It wouldn’t be something that everyone else knows.”
But Carson said that the names he assigned to two of the boys he attacked – “Bob,” the victim of the attempted stabbing, and “Jerry,” who was hit with the lock – are not their real names.
Until lately, Trump and Carson have seemed to have an almost chummy relationship on the campaign trail. They largely refrained from attacking one another and partnered to pressure CNBC to limit the length of the GOP debate it hosted in Colorado on Oct. 28. But as Carson has surged in the polls, especially in Iowa, Trump has become much more critical. At first, Trump limited his attacks on Carson to their professional qualifications, saying that Carson does not have the personality to broker trade deals or negotiate with foreign leaders.
Thursday night, Trump went personal and tweeted about the CNN report on Carson’s violent upbringing:
“The Carson story is either a total fabrication or, if true, even worse-trying to hit mother over the head with a hammer or stabbing friend!”
Trump’s tweets continued into Friday morning, as he criticized reports that Carson is leading in the race and again brought up Carson’s supposed violent upbringing.
Trump also threw in a mention of the pyramids, a jab at a comment Carson made years ago that has prompted fresh embarrassment this week. A video surfaced this week from a 1998 commencement speech Carson gave at Andrews University, which is affiliated with the Seventh-day Adventist Church, of which Carson is a member. During the speech, Carson says: “My own personal theory is that Joseph built the pyramids to store grain.” Carson stood by that comment in an interview on CBS on Wednesday.
Minutes after Politico reported Friday morning that Carson had lied about applying to the U.S. Military Academy at West Point and receiving a full scholarship, Trump tweeted out the article, along with this comment: “WOW, one of many lies by Ben Carson! Big story.”
Carson changes tune on academy
WASHINGTON – Republican White House hopeful Ben Carson was not offered a formal scholarship to the United States Military Academy at West Point as he wrote in his autobiography, his campaign said Friday.
His campaign on Friday sought to clarify a statement in his breakout book, “Gifted Hands,” in which he outlines his participation with the Reserve Officers’ Training Corps, commonly known as ROTC, while in high school.
“I was offered a full scholarship to West Point,” Carson wrote in the 1996 book. “I didn’t refuse the scholarship outright, but I let them know that a military career wasn’t where I saw myself going.”
Campaign spokesman Doug Watts said Carson “ considered it but in the end did not seek admission.”
Students granted admission to West Point are said to earn appointments to the military academy, which comes with tuition, room and board and expenses fully paid, in exchange for five years of service in the Army after graduation.
A West Point spokesman on Friday said the academy “cannot confirm whether anyone during that time period was nominated to West Point if they chose not to pursue completion of the application process.”
The story was first reported on Friday by Politico.
