Carson’s camp: He did not fabricate anything

Ben Carson’s campaign is furiously pushing back against claims that he fabricated a story from his youth about an offer to attend West Point.

A Politico story that ran Friday under the headline “Ben Carson admits fabricating West Point scholarship” claims the Carson campaign admitted that the presidential candidate made up a central portion of his biography — that he was offered a scholarship to West Point but turned it down to pursue a career as a physician.

Carson’s campaign and his allies are furious with the story, saying they never admitted to fabricating the events and claiming that the thrust of the story is misleading.

{mosads}“It’s completely B.S.,” said Carson senior strategist Ed Brookover. “The headline and the lead are a complete injustice to good journalism.”

At issue is Carson’s claim, made time and again in his books and in public statements, that as a young man Carson was offered a “full scholarship” to West Point.

In his books, Carson says that as a high school student he was a top performer at Detroit Southwestern High School’s ROTC program, rising to second lieutenant and catching the eye of his superiors.

This led to an encounter with General William Westmoreland, who was at the time a West Point administrator, and other veterans, who visited Carson’s school.

“I had dinner with [Westmoreland] and the Congressional Medal winners,” Carson writes in his book “Gifted Hands.” “Later I was offered a full scholarship to West Point. I didn’t refuse the scholarship outright, but I let them know that a military career wasn’t where I saw myself going.”

West Point does not give out scholarships. However, all of the expenses are covered for students who make it through the admissions process, which requires one be nominated by a prominent government or military official.

Furthermore, a West Point spokeswoman told Politico that while it’s possible Westmoreland encouraged Carson to apply, the general could not have guaranteed his entrance to the school, provoking the charges of fabrication over Carson’s claim that he was offered a “full scholarship.”

The campaign is arguing that Carson’s statement that he was offered a “full scholarship” is a way of telling the story of how he was courted by a prominent general who offered to pave his way to the military academy.

“A West Point administrator said to young Ben Carson, ‘You’ve got a great record. We can help you navigate the trail to West Point’,” said Brookover. “He decided not to.”

The campaign notes that Carson has said all along that despite the encounter with Westmoreland, he never applied to West Point, as he was determined instead to pursue a career in medicine.

When asked if the Carson campaign has admitted to fabricating the story, Carson campaign manager Barry Bennett said “absolutely not.”

“He was offered an appointment which is very different from being offered admission,” Bennett said. “He has always said he did not pursue it.”

Carson has drawn intense media scrutiny in recent weeks as he’s risen to the top of the GOP presidential field.

This is not the first time the claims he’s made in his best-selling books, which detail an inspiring rise out of poverty to becoming the world’s foremost neurosurgeon, have been called into question.

The Daily Beast sought to corroborate a story Carson has told about being held at gun point at a Popeye’s restaurant but questioned the veracity of the tale after failing to find evidence.

This week, CNN sought to verify a handful of stories Carson has told about his temper as a young man. Carson says he once tried to stab a classmate, hit another while clutching a metal lock and tried to hit his mother with a hammer. The incidents in question happened about 50 years ago.

“CNN was unable to independently confirm any of the incidents,” the story states. 

However, CNN noted no one they interviewed “challenged the stories directly.”

The Carson campaign is upset over the stories, saying that the media’s inability to verify they took place does not make them untrue.

Carson, who has made his issues with the press a lynchpin of his campaign, has lashed out at CNN, calling the story “garbage” and “a bunch of lies” 

“The so-called vetting that you all did with President Obama doesn’t even come close to what you guys are trying to do in my case,” the Republican presidential candidate said Friday on CNN’s “New Day.”

Regardless, Carson’s rivals are seizing on the notion that he’s been untruthful about his past.

“Vote for me. I never said I went to West Point,” former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee said Friday at National Religious Liberties Conference in Des Moines, Iowa, according to Bloomberg.

And Donald Trump retweeted tweets from a handful of supporters bashing Carson.

“@BornToBeGOP: @realDonaldTrump @Robostop10 @politico How anyone could see him as president baffles me. Lies and insane theories.

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) November 6, 2015