Carson going on the defensive as scrutiny heats up
Republican presidential candidate’s biography questioned
Carson criticized the news media in interviews Sunday but added that the negative coverage has helped his campaign raise more money.
Ben Carson says he is under political attack because of his rise in the polls.
“There’s no question I’m getting special scrutiny,” the Republican presidential candidate told CBS’ Face the Nation on Sunday, saying that people — unnamed — “are very threatened” because they see how well he is doing in surveys against Democrat Hillary Clinton.
“They’re worried,” Carson said. “There is no question about it.”
Carson appeared on Sunday interview shows amid news reports that question his past statements about his life story, ranging from claims of a youthful temper and acts of violence to the prospect of an invitation to attend West Point.
Carson, has begun to attract more attention to his life story.
Earlier last week, it was suggestions that his story of a violent and angry upbringing in Detroit wasn’t as violent and angry as he suggested.
And on Friday, it was a report by Politico that he “fabricated” the story of an offer to attend West Point. Carson called that report Friday a “boldfaced lie.”
( Politico responded late Friday with an editor’s note on the story saying that Carson had implied he applied to West Point but that was not the case.)
Donald Trump, who is battling Carson for the top spot in many Republican polls, has picked up on the criticism of Carson, telling ABC’s This Week that there is “a weird deal going on” with the re- tired neurosurgeon.
In his Sunday interviews, Carson again criticized the news media, though he added that the negative coverage has helped his campaign raise more money from supporters.
“Vetting is one thing,” Carson said on NBC’s Meet the Press, but he said he is being asked about incidents that happened 20 and 50 years ago.
“You can do that every single day from now until the election,” Carson said. “And I could get distracted, and I could deal with all of those things, or I can deal with what’s important.”