“There’s no question I’m getting special scrutiny”, Carson said on CBS’ “Face The Nation”, as he spoke via satellite from Puerto Rico. In “Gifted Hands”, Carson claims one of his professors told his classmates an exam had to be retaken because the originals were burned. This isn’t a story that you tell if you running for president, for example.
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“We are very spiritual people so you will see a lot of Bibles around the house and things that are indicative of that”, he said at the time. Then the professor entered with a photographer from the Yale Daily News, informed Carson it was all a hoax and declared him the “most honest student in the class” for sticking it out.
Carson’s personal journey, from poverty in Detroit to prominence as a pioneering neurosurgeon and recipient of the presidential medal of freedom, forms the backbone of his campaign as a candidate with no formal political record to draw on. But the details of what happened don’t really add up: Carson says he took a class called “Perceptions” and posted a photo of the syllabus, but the photo was of a newer syllabus, so doesn’t totally prove the class existed when he was in school.
“If a recruiter or somebody who’s trying to get you to come there, was trying to get you to do that, those are the words that they would use”, he said.
However, the leading GOP candidate did admit that his timeline about meeting General William Westmoreland on Memorial Day in 1969 and subsequently being offered a scholarship to West Point could be wrong.
Media attacks on Carson appear to have spurred supporters to give even more. The military academy does not offer scholarships because tuition is free for those accepted. “So the idea that people are questioning his credibility when of course if it was your child you would say, ‘Oh yeah, yeah, yeah, just, you know, go into his head, it’s fine'”.
“That’s pretty unlikely, ’cause a belt buckle will turn”, Trump said. “Please show me that person”.
The Journal interviewed six of Carson’s fellow students at Southwestern high, along with his physics teacher from the time.
Prince said he believed Carson’s story was true.
Tanner Glenn, a UNC sophomore and participant in the U.S. Senate Youth Program who interned at the Center for American Progress in Washington, D.C., said Carson’s persona has attracted voters.
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Spies did not respond to ABC News’ requests for comment.
