Donald Trump is attacking Ben Carson, who has risen to become the real estate tycoon’s closest rival in polls for the Republican presidential nomination.
Trump took to Twitter — his preferred medium for lobbing bombs at his political foes — to target the retired neurosurgeon late Thursday and early Friday for remarks on his violent past.
“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 tweeted.
The tweet came after a CNN investigation published earlier Thursday called into question some of Carson’s descriptions of past violent actions.
{mosads}Carson has openly remarked in his book and public statements about “punching a classmate in the face with his hand wrapped around a lock, leaving a bloody three-inch gash in the boy’s forehead; attempting to attack his own mother with a hammer following an argument over clothes; hurling a large rock at a boy,” according to
CNN.
CNN followed up by reporting that nine friends, neighbors and classmates who grew up with Carson said they didn’t recall the violence described by the candidate.
“With Ben Carson wanting to hit his mother on head with a hammer, stabb [sic] a friend and Pyramids built for grain storage – don’t people get it?” Trump tweeted Friday.
Trump also seized on Carson’s remark Thursday that the names of some childhood friends were “
fictitious,” with Carson suggesting he wanted to spare the people media attention.
“Carson now admits his friend named ‘Bob,’ who he tried to stabb [sic] (Bob was saved by his belt buckle!), no longer exists as Bob. Wrong name!” Trump tweeted.
Trump and Carson had been on relatively cordial terms, teaming up against the CNBC debate format last week and leading the charge for changes in subsequent debates.
But that relationship has apparently fizzled as Carson continues to run
neck and neck with Trump in polls heading into the fourth GOP debate on Tuesday.
Carson defended himself from media “garbage” during a
combative interview on CNN’s “New Day” on Friday, saying he has repeatedly detailed his childhood experiences.
“The story is well-documented,” Carson insisted on the program. “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.
“I want to point out how silly the CNN investigation is,” he added. “Because when I have flashes of temper, it would only be the people who were directly involved.
“They were not anxious to be involved,” Carson said of those mentioned in the incidents. “I didn’t want to put their lives under the spotlight.”
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