Trump: I like Carson ‘on a personal basis’

Donald Trump said in an interview late Tuesday that it is unlikely he will attack Ben Carson while both men compete for the GOP’s presidential nomination next year.

“You know, Ben and I have gotten to know each other over the years,” Trump told host Don Lemon on “CNN Tonight.”

“I think Ben is a nice person,” he said. “I’ve met him numerous times and I like him.”

{mosads}“Politics is a very strange thing and a very strange place you end up in,” Trump added. “I can’t tell you what’s going to happen because I really don’t know. But I can tell you he’s somebody I like on a personal basis.”

Trump made the remarks as Carson is closing the gap on the outspoken billionaire’s lead in Iowa across several polls.

The latest RealClearPolitics average of polls also shows the retired neurosurgeon is second to Trump nationwide.

Trump argued on Tuesday night that his campaign only hits back once it has been struck first.

“I’m more of a counterpuncher, as they would say in the boxing world,” he said. “Jeb [Bush] went after me and Perry went after me and I went after him. And Rand Paul, for some reason out of the blue came after me and I went after him. And the other one, I guess, would be Lindsey Graham.”

“I thought these people were all fine and they came after me and then I had to go after them and perhaps I did a better job than they did,” Trump added. “But they all went down.”