Ben Carson Says He Has ‘No Problem’ Being Vetted After Questions About His Past
— -- Republican candidate Dr. Ben Carson -- who has faced scrutiny over inconsistencies in statements about events in his life -- said tonight that he supports the media vetting presidential candidates.
“The fact of the matter is, what, we should vet all candidates,” Carson said.
“I have no problem with being vetted,” he added. “What I do have a problem with is being lied about.”
His comments tonight came as he found himself under fire last week for stories in his autobiography and those on the campaign trail, like turning his life around as a teenager after trying to stab a fellow teen and claiming to have been offered a full scholarship to West Point.
Instead, Carson accused Hillary Clinton of lying about whether the Benghazi attacks constituted terrorism.
“When I look at somebody like Hillary Clinton, who sits there and tells her daughter and government official that no, this was a terrorist attack, and then tells everybody else that it was a video, where I came from, they call that a lie,” he said.
Carson, who has been poking fun at the media leading up to tonight’s debate, thanked the moderators avoiding questions from many years ago.
“Well, first of all, thank you for not asking me what I said in the 10th grade,” Carson said. “I appreciate that.”
Regarding the stabbing story, Carson’s campaign pointed to an article in Parade Magazine in 1997, where his mother corroborates the story, telling the reporter “Oh that really happened.”
As for West Point, his campaign said that he was told as an ROTC student that the school would process an admission for him, but he chose not to pursue it.
He continued to face questions later in the week, including the legitimacy of a story in his autobiography about being the most "honest student" in a psychology course at Yale University, after being the victim of a hoax.
The Wall Street Journal reported discrepancies in Carson’s account of the incident, but a fellow student who staged the hoax told ABC News that Carson was not lying, saying “I think he got it close to right."
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