However, Carson campaign manager Barry Bennett told the Washington Examiner in a statement that, “I would argue strongly that an appointment [to West Point] is indeed an awesome full scholarship”. The story is now headlined, “Exclusive: Carson claimed West Point “scholarship” but never applied”.
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Dr Ben Carson, who is heading the polls to be the Republican candidate, had claimed he was offered a scholarship to the famous West Point military academy.
“Maybe the words are inaccurate, but that fact that you’re offered a chance to attend one of the military academies, you are in effect getting a scholarship because nobody pays a dime”, Watts said in a telephone interview.
Students who are granted admission to West Point are not awarded scholarships.
“According to records of Westmoreland’s schedule that were provided by the U.S. Army, the general did not visit Detroit around Memorial Day in 1969 or have dinner with Carson”. He believes it was at a banquet. I was the highest student ROTC member in Detroit and was thrilled to get an offer from West Point.
But West Point officials told Politico they have no record of Carson applying to the school.
In addition, West Point reports they have no record of Carson applying or being admitted to the academy.
“He considered it but in the end did not seek admission”, Bennett said. “The Politico’s representation of that is demonstrably false and is not something Carson claimed”.
“I interpreted it as an officer”, said Carson, reporters asked who gave it to you, “I don’t remember the names”.
A West Point spokesman on Friday said the academy “cannot confirm whether anyone during that time period was nominated to West Point if they chose not to pursue completion of the application process”.
Ben Carson is coming off as an untrustworthy narrator, at the very least and the Republican Party has an ongoing, systemic problem with vetting, and it’s all the liberal media’s fault! “And I’m going to leave it up to the American people to make that decision”, Carson said.
“WOW, one of many lies by Ben Carson!”.
The admission follows an angry appearance by Carson Friday on CNN, during which he called the network’s reporting on his past a “bunch of lies”.
“Do you think I’m a pathological liar, like CNN does, or do you think I’m an honest person?”
“Were it left to me to decide whether we should have a government without newspapers, or newspapers without a government”, he said, “I should not hesitate a moment to prefer the latter”.
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After this event, some media questioned him about some other stories of his career, to the point that even Carson admitted that he made up the names of some childhood acquaintances in discussing his violent youth. But for the past two decades it’s not what Carson has said.
