Reporters are asking new questions about a key story in Ben Carson’s autobiography in which he originally said he attempted to stab a friend — and now says the victim was a “close relative.”
BREAKING NEWS on #KellyFile: @RealBenCarson identifies person he tried to stab as a young man as a "close relative."
— Megyn Kelly (@megynkelly) November 6, 2015
It’s a story that was first published in 1990 in Carson’s book, Gifted Hands, and was even turned into a made-for-TV movie starring Cuba Gooding Jr. in 2009. Many media outlets, including ThinkProgress, have cited the account. It has been key to his personal story that Republican voters find so appealing — one he says aided his transformation into a good Christian.
But the story “evolved” over the years, CBS reported. The new questions come after CNN interviewed several former classmates and neighbors of Carson and found that those “who grew up with Carson told CNN they have no memory of the anger or violence the candidate has described.”
“I don’t know nothing about that,” a former classmate, Gerald Ware, told CNN. “It would have been all over the whole school.”
The remarks were seized upon by Carson’s closest rival for the Republican nomination, real estate mogul Donald Trump.
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!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) November 6, 2015
Carson now admits his friend named "Bob," who he tried to stab (Bob was saved by his belt buckle!), no longer exists as Bob. Wrong name!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) November 6, 2015
Carson’s campaign manager, Armstrong Williams, responded to questions from CNN about their reporting by saying in an email last Friday: “Why would anyone cooperate with your obvious witch hunt? No comment and moving on…… Happy Halloween!!!!!”
Carson himself said that the media was simply trying to paint him as “a pathological liar.”
He also says he changed the names of those involved to protect their privacy. “The story is well-documented,” Carson said, according to ABC News. “If you choose not to believe it, if it doesn’t fit the narrative that you want, that’s fine. Let’s let the American people decide.”
Meanwhile, a Fox News national poll released Thursday shows Trump regaining an edge over Carson. Trump seems to have taken this as confirmation of Carson’s phoniness.
With Ben Carson wanting to hit his mother on head with a hammer, stab a friend and Pyramids built for grain storage – don't people get it?
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) November 6, 2015