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Ben Carson’s Republican presidential campaign says he was never accepted to the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, but in an Oct. 9 interview with CBS’s Charlie Rose, Carson told a different story. (Reuters) 
  
 Ben Carson’s Republican presidential campaign says he was never accepted to the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, but in an Oct. 9 interview with CBS’s Charlie Rose, Carson told a different story. (Reuters) 
  
 Republican presidential candidate Ben Carson — now making the transition from living legend to scrutinized candidate — faced new questions Friday about the way he tells his powerful life story. 
  
 For years, Carson has said he was offered a “full scholarship” to the U.S. Military Academy when he was a high-achieving high school Army ROTC cadet in the late 1960s. But Carson never applied to West Point, was never accepted and never received a formal scholarship offer. In fact, West Point does not offer scholarships; all cadets attend free. 
  
 The story was first reported Friday by Politico. Carson responded to the resulting controversy by saying that when he spoke of an “offer,” he referred to informal, verbal statements of encouragement from military leaders he met through the ROTC, the Reserve Officers’ Training Corps . 
  
 “I was told that because of my accomplishments, they would be able to manage to get me into West Point and that I wouldn’t have to pay anything,” Carson said on the Christian Broadcasting Network. He said he decided not to apply and went to Yale University instead to pursue medicine. “There was no application process [at West Point]. I never even started down that path,” Carson said. 
  
 Carson’s campaign cast the episode as new evidence of persecution of the candidate by the news media. Tension between Carson and the media came to a boil Friday night in Florida, where at a combative news conference the candidate asked why President Obama had not been subjected to such scrutiny. 
  
 After questions of Republican presidential candidate Ben Carson's past came under question, Carson said the media is "getting desperate" while at a news conference in Florida on Friday, Nov. 6. (Reuters) 
  
 “The words ‘a scholarship was offered’ were a big deal, but the president of the United States’ academic records being sealed is not?” he said. 
  
 The original Politico report declared that Carson had “fabricated” a story about “his application and acceptance” at West Point. It also claimed that the candidate had “admitted” the fabrication. 
  
 Carson’s campaign vehemently denied those statements. 
  
 [Ben Carson’s first foray into politics, on both sides of a 1992 abortion battle] 
  
 The Politico story seemed to mischaracterize a small but key detail in the way Carson has told the story. In many cases, Carson implied only that he received a formal offer from West Point. He never said explicitly that he had been accepted or even that he had applied. 
  
 “It gives journalism a bad name,” said Armstrong Williams, Carson’s close friend and business manager. “It only fits into Dr. Carson’s narrative of a witch hunt” by the media. 
  
 By mid-afternoon, Politico posted a new version of its story that no longer included the wording that Carson had “fabricated” a part of his biography. Later in the day, the news site posted an editor’s note stating that the story should have made clear that Carson never claimed to have applied for admission to West Point. 
  
 1 of 50 Full Screen Autoplay Close Skip Ad × See photos of Ben Carson on the campaign trail View Photos The retired neurosurgeon is seeking the Republican presidential nomination. Caption The retired neurosurgeon is seeking the Republican presidential nomination. Feb. 20, 2016 Ben Carson greets people at the Beacon Drive-In restaurant in Spartanburg on the day of the South Carolina Republican presidential primary. Jabin Botsford/The Washington Post Buy Photo Wait 1 second to continue. 
  
 “We continue to stand by the story,” Politico spokeswoman Lauren Edmonds said in a statement. “We updated it to reflect Ben Carson’s on the record response to the New York Times and other new details, which underscore the validity of our original reporting.” 
  
 As the day went on, conservative media voices chimed in to agree with Carson. “It’s almost like the Politico is the official leak machine for the Republican establishment,” Rush Limbaugh said on his syndicated radio show. Radio host and blogger Erick Erickson replaced an entire post about “the beginning of Ben Carson’s end” with one about a “demonstrably false” Politico report. 
  
 Carson, 64, achieved worldwide fame for his daring surgeries at Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore and for his story of rising out of poverty in southwest Detroit. This week, as Carson has challenged Donald Trump for the lead in the Republican presidential primary contest, there has been a new focus on Carson’s personal beliefs and on the way he tells his life story. 
  
 First, the Web site BuzzFeed posted a 17-year-old video of a commencement speech in which Carson offers an alternative theory about why the ancient Egyptians built the pyramids. In Carson’s telling, they were not built to be tombs, as historians and archeologists say. Instead, they were built for grain storage, in keeping with the biblical story of Joseph, in which the patriarch counseled the pharaoh to store up grain for years of famine. 
  
 Carson told CBS News this week that he still believes that the pyramids were granaries, saying the proof was in sealed chambers inside the structures. “You would need that if you were trying to preserve grain for a long period of time,” he said. 
  
 [Ben Carson believes Joseph built Egypt’s pyramids to store grain] 
  
 Then, CNN sought to verify a key part of Carson’s life story: that, as a young man in Detroit, he had committed acts of violence, including smashing a boy’s nose with a thrown rock, attempting to stab a friend in the abdomen and threatening his own mother with a hammer during an argument. 
  
 CNN interviewed nine people who knew Carson during his childhood and who said that the violent incidents did not fit their recollections of him. 
  
 Carson said CNN did not speak with the right people. “I was generally a nice person,” he told the network. “It’s just that I had a very bad temper. So unless you were the victim of that temper, why would you know?” 
  
 It was an unusually odd situation: a presidential candidate insisting, in the face of skepticism, that he really did have a history of violence. 
  
 The part of Carson’s life at issue Friday — the “offer” he got, or did not get, from West Point — is a story that Carson has told repeatedly in books, interviews and speeches. 
  
 He tells it in the context of his rapid rise through high school Army ROTC, which ended with him as the top-ranking cadet in Detroit. 
  
 “I was offered a full scholarship to West Point,” Carson wrote in his 1990 memoir, “Gifted Hands.” “I didn’t refuse the scholarship outright, but I let them know that a military career wasn’t where I saw myself going. As overjoyed as I felt to be offered such a scholarship, I wasn’t really tempted. The scholarship would have obligated me to spend four years in military service after I finished college, precluding my chances to go on to medical school.” 
  
 In that account and others, Carson seems to rely on loose, broad definitions for the words “offer” and “scholarship.” 
  
 In fact, applicants to West Point must be sponsored by a member of Congress or the secretary of the Army. If accepted, they attend tuition-free: There are no “scholarships” at West Point beyond the benefits that all cadets get. 
  
 Doug Watts, a spokesman for Carson’s campaign, said Carson never completed the process for acceptance by West Point and never had an official sponsor. Indeed, in “Gifted Hands,” Carson makes clear that he actually applied only to one school: Yale. 
  
 “Each college required a ten-dollar non-returnable entrance fee sent with the application,” Carson wrote. “I had exactly ten dollars, so I could apply only to one.” 
  
 Still, his campaign spokesman said, it was proper to say Carson had an “offer” of a scholarship because military leaders had told him that his acceptance would be a sure thing. 
  
 “He was told by the ROTC commander that he could have an appointment,” Watts said. “Dr. Carson rejected the offer, did not apply or pursue admission. Had he done so, and been accepted, that would have been tantamount to a scholarship, the same that all cadets receive.” 
  
 In one of his books, Carson also made a similar claim about a scholarship offer from another school. 
  
 “The University of Michigan had offered me a scholarship, but I wanted to go farther from home,” he wrote in his 1999 book, “The Big Picture.” 
  
 A spokesman for the University of Michigan, Rick Fitzgerald, said he could not confirm that account. The university no longer has records from that time. Carson’s camp said the scenario was similar to that involving West Point: He had decided to apply elsewhere and never submitted an application. 
  
 Alice Crites and Robert Samuels contributed to this report. ||||| Washington (CNN) Ben Carson spent much of Friday aggressively rebutting media reports about his past -- a striking departure from the mellow personality he has displayed on the campaign trail. 
  
 "There is a desperation on behalf of some to try to find ways to tarnish me because they've been looking through everything, they have been talking to everybody I've ever known, everybody I've ever seen," Carson told reporters at a media availability in Florida. 
  
 "'There's got to be a scandal. There's got to be some nurse he's had an affair with. There's got to be something.' They have gotten desperate," Carson continued. "Next week, it will be my kindergarten teacher who said I peed in my pants. It's ridiculous. But it's OK because I totally expect it." 
  
 Carson's personal narrative -- a centerpiece of his campaign and star power -- has long revolved around his accounts of his violent past and descriptions of the healing powers of his faith. 
  
 In a story published on Thursday, CNN reported that childhood friends of Carson were surprised about violent incidents he has described in a book, public speeches and interviews and had no recollection of such events. Scott Glover and Maeve Reston spoke with nine friends, classmates and neighbors who grew up with Carson, and none had any memory of the anger or violence the candidate has described. 
  
 Friday morning on CNN's "New Day," he said the network's reporting of his past was a "bunch of lies." 
  
 "This is a bunch of lies, that is what it is," Carson told Alisyn Camerota when she asked about the report by Glover and Reston in which they spoke to people Carson grew up with. "This is a bunch of lies attempting to say I'm lying about my history. I think it's pathetic, and basically what the media does is they try to get you distracted." 
  
 Photos: Ben Carson's career in politics Photos: Ben Carson's career in politics Ben Carson attends the National Action Network (NAN) national convention at the Sheraton New York Times Square Hotel on April 8, 2015, in New York City. Hide Caption 1 of 13 Photos: Ben Carson's career in politics Carson speaks during the 41st annual Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) at the Gaylord International Hotel and Conference Center on March 8, 2014, in National Harbor, Maryland. Hide Caption 2 of 13 Photos: Ben Carson's career in politics Carson speaks to guests at the Iowa Freedom Summit on January 24, 2015, in Des Moines, Iowa. Hide Caption 3 of 13 Photos: Ben Carson's career in politics Carson is surrounded by supporters as he waits to be interviewed at the annual Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) at National Harbor, Maryland, outside Washington on February 26, 2015. Hide Caption 4 of 13 Photos: Ben Carson's career in politics Carson speaks at the South Carolina Tea Party Coalition convention on January 18, 2015, in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina. A variety of conservative presidential hopefuls spoke at the gathering on the second day of a three-day event. Hide Caption 5 of 13 Photos: Ben Carson's career in politics Carson delivers the keynote address at the Wake Up America gala event on September 5, 2014, in Scottsdale, Arizona. Hide Caption 6 of 13 Photos: Ben Carson's career in politics Carson speaks during the 41st annual Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) at the Gaylord International Hotel and Conference Center on March 8, 2014, in National Harbor, Maryland. Hide Caption 7 of 13 Photos: Ben Carson's career in politics Carson speaks during the National Prayer Breakfast at the Washington Hilton on February 7, 2013, in Washington. Hide Caption 8 of 13 Photos: Ben Carson's career in politics Honoree and director of pediatric neurosurgery at Johns Hopkins University, Carson poses with actor James Pickens Jr. at the Jackie Robinson Foundation Annual Awards Dinner on March 16, 2009, in New York City. Hide Caption 9 of 13 Photos: Ben Carson's career in politics Before his jump into conservative politics, Carson was known for his work as a neurosurgeon. Carson was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom by then-President George W. Bush on June 19, 2008. At that time, he was the director of pediatric surgery at Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore, Maryland. Hide Caption 10 of 13 Photos: Ben Carson's career in politics In a story that garnered international attention, Carson was ready to separate a pair of 10-year-old Indian girls, Saba and Farah Shakeel, who are joined at the head in New Delhi, India. Here, he addresses a press conference at the Indraprashtra Apollo Hospital on October 4, 2005. Hide Caption 11 of 13 Photos: Ben Carson's career in politics Carson and a team of 20 specialists approved the procedure after studying the girls' brains; however, their parents were worried about their daughters' lives and did not give doctors permission to operate. The surgery did not happen. Hide Caption 12 of 13 Photos: Ben Carson's career in politics Carson observes the start of neurosurgery proceedings at the Raffles Hospital in Singapore on July 6, 2003. Carson and Dr. Keith Goh, left, performed a complex operation that was unsuccessful to separate 29-year-old twins Ladan And Laleh Bijani, who were joined at the head. Hide Caption 13 of 13 
  
 Camerota pushed back on Carson's argument that the reporters did not talk to people who knew him earlier than high school, but Carson rejected that and launched into an aggressive attack on the media. He accused the media of not scrutinizing President Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton to the same degree. 
  
 "The vetting that you all did with President Obama doesn't even come close, doesn't even come close to what you guys are trying to do in my case, and you're just going to keep going back, 'He said this 12 years ago' -- it is just garbage," Carson said. "Give me a break." 
  
 Reston and Glover repeatedly approached the Carson campaign during their reporting and again before publication of the story. But the campaign staff declined to comment or to assist them in locating classmates or victims of violence who could provide insights about Carson's past. 
  
 On "New Day," Carson did not explain which aspects of the story he feels are incorrect. 
  
 CNN's story pointed out that none of the people interviewed challenged the veracity of his accounts, but said they were surprised at them and did not reflect the youth that they knew. 
  
 Meanwhile, Politico published a story midday Friday claiming that the Carson campaign admitted that he "fabricated" an account of applying and being admitted to West Point -- a headline the outlet later softened. 
  
 Friday night, Carson told reporters that the piece was a "bold-faced lie." 
  
 In his autobiography, Carson did not explicitly say he applied to the school. 
  
 "Afterward, Sgt. Hunt introduced me to General (William) Westmoreland, and I had dinner with him and the Congressional Medal winners. 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," Carson wrote. 
  
 Carson himself acknowledged in an interview with The New York Times that the scholarship offer was "informal." 
  
 "It was, you know, an informal 'with a record like yours we could easily get you a scholarship to West Point,'" he said. 
  
 Armstrong Williams, Carson's business manager, said earlier in the day that the candidate has "always been clear that he never applied. He gracefully let them know that medicine was his calling." 
  
 "It's clear that what the Politico writer, with what he was trying to gain with the headline, did not substantiate it with his article," Williams told CNN's Wolf Blitzer. 
  
 Politico also reported that West Point would have a record of whether he applied in 1969. But West Point spokeswoman Theresa Brinkerhoff told CNN there would be no records about Carson's interaction with the school unless he actually enrolled. Files on potential cadets from that time would have only been kept three years unless the person became a student, she said. 
  
 "No matter what at this point, because the records were so many years ago, we wouldn't have anything on him," she said. 
  
 While an official letter of admission would have come from the adjutant general of the Army, who was not Westmoreland, she said it was common for top military officials to recruit the best and brightest high school students. And she said she could imagine that the school's lack of tuition -- as a federally funded institution -- could have been communicated or interpreted as a scholarship. 
  
 "I wouldn't find that odd, that a general would pursue a discussion to kind of talk to him and say, 'Do you know what West Point would offer you?' And if you're using general terminology to a 17-year-old, I could see how you would call them scholarships. We don't use that terminology, (but) I could see how that could occur," Brinkerhoff said. 
  
 Speaking at a gala for the Black Republican Caucus of South Florida in Palm Beach Gardens Friday night, Carson was reflective on the "dirty world" of politics. 
  
 "A lot of times people say, 'Why would someone who has had a wonderful career get involved in the dirty world of politics?' I frequently ask myself that when I wake up in the morning. It is a dirty world," Carson said. 
  
 He did not mention the scrutiny on him during the remainder of the speech, but briefly alluded to how he is more forcefully pushing back now. 
  
 "A lot of people think that I'm soft because I'm quiet. I think they're starting to find out that I'm not soft. And that I can be loud, particularly when the injustice is being done," he said. |||||
– Ben Carson is not enjoying the level of scrutiny he is receiving from the media—and he certainly doesn't remember Barack Obama receiving the same degree of "vetting" when he was running for president. He called the media "desperate" at a Friday conference, accusing reporters of talking to just about everybody he ever met in a quest to tarnish him. "There's got to be a scandal. There's got to be some nurse he's had an affair with. There's got to be something. They have gotten desperate," he said, per CNN. "Next week, it will be my kindergarten teacher who said I peed in my pants. It's ridiculous. But it's OK because I totally expect it," he said, adding that he remembers "quite the opposite" happening with Obama. Carson took issue with a Friday Politico report that he had "fabricated" a claim to have been offered a "full scholarship" to West Point, calling the story a "bold-faced" lie. The Politico story was later updated to soften the accusation, which centered on what Carson's campaign says was an informal offer, the Washington Post reports. "The words 'a scholarship was offered' were a big deal, but the president of the United States’ academic records being sealed is not," Carson said. He also rejected a CNN story casting doubt on violent incidents he described in biography Gifted Hands, which the Post notes has created the odd situation of "a presidential candidate insisting, in the face of skepticism, that he really did have a history of violence." (Carson's unusual theory about Egypt's great pyramids also attracted a lot of attention this week.)
Skriv en sammanfattning baserad på denna artikel: Ben Carsons republikanska presidentkampanj säger att han aldrig blev antagen till USA:s militärakademi vid West Point, men i en Oct. 9 intervju med CBS:s Charlie Rose berättade Carson en annan historia. (Reuters) Ben Carsons republikanska presidentkampanj säger att han aldrig blev antagen till USA:s militärakademi vid West Point, men i en Oct. 9 intervju med CBS:s Charlie Rose berättade Carson en annan historia. (Reuters) Republikanernas presidentkandidat Ben Carson — som nu gör övergången från levande legend till granskad kandidat — ställdes inför nya frågor fredag om hur han berättar sin kraftfulla livshistoria. Carson har i flera år sagt att han erbjöds ett ”fullt stipendium” till USA:s militärakademi när han var en high-aching high school Army ROTC-kadett i slutet av 1960-talet. Men Carson sökte aldrig till West Point, blev aldrig antagen och fick aldrig något formellt stipendieerbjudande. I själva verket erbjuder West Point inte stipendier; alla kadetter deltar gratis. Berättelsen rapporterades första gången fredag av Politico. Carson svarade på den resulterande kontroversen med att säga att när han talade om ett "erbjudande", han hänvisade till informella, muntliga uttalanden av uppmuntran från militära ledare han mötte genom ROTC, Reserv Officers' Training Corps . "Jag fick veta att på grund av mina prestationer, skulle de kunna lyckas få mig in i West Point och att jag inte skulle behöva betala något," Carson sade på Christian Broadcasting Network. Han sa att han bestämde sig för att inte söka och gick till Yale University istället för att söka medicin. ”Det fanns ingen ansökningsprocess [vid West Point]. Jag har aldrig ens börjat på den vägen,” Carson sade. Carsons kampanj kastade avsnittet som nytt bevis på att nyhetsmedierna förföljde kandidaten. Spänningen mellan Carson och media kom till en böld fredagskväll i Florida, där kandidaten vid en stridande nyhetskonferens frågade varför president Obama inte hade utsatts för en sådan granskning. Efter att frågor om republikanernas presidentkandidat Ben Carsons förflutna kom under fråga, Carson sade media är "bli desperat" medan på en nyhetskonferens i Florida på fredagen, 6 nov. (Reuters) “Ordet ‘ett stipendium erbjöds’ var en stor sak, men presidenten för USA: s akademiska register förseglas inte?” sade han. Den ursprungliga Politico-rapporten förklarade att Carson hade ”fabrikerat” en berättelse om ”hans ansökan och acceptans” vid West Point. Den hävdade också att kandidaten hade ”godkänt” tillverkningen. Carsons kampanj förnekade häftigt dessa uttalanden. [Ben Carsons första försprång in i politiken, på båda sidor av en abortstrid 1992] Politikens historia tycktes felkaraktärisera en liten men viktig detalj i det sätt på vilket Carson har berättat historien. I många fall antydde Carson endast att han fått ett formellt erbjudande från West Point. Han sade aldrig uttryckligen att han hade blivit antagen eller ens att han hade ansökt. — Det ger journalistiken dåligt rykte, sade Armstrong Williams, Carsons nära vän och företagsledare. “Det passar bara in i dr Carsons berättelse om en häxjakt” av media. I mitten av eftermiddagen publicerade Politico en ny version av sin berättelse som inte längre innehöll formuleringen att Carson hade ”fabricerat” en del av sin biografi. Senare på dagen postade nyhetssajten en redaktörs lapp där det stod att berättelsen borde ha klargjort att Carson aldrig påstod sig ha ansökt om inträde till West Point. 1 av 50 Full Screen Autoplay Stäng Skip Ad × Se bilder på Ben Carson på kampanjspåret Visa Bilder Den pensionerade neurokirurgen söker den republikanska presidentnomineringen. Bildtext Den pensionerade neurokirurgen söker den republikanska presidentnomineringen. 20 februari, 2016 Ben Carson hälsar på folk på restaurangen Beacon Drive-In i Spartanburg på dagen för South Carolina Republican presidential primär. Jabin Botsford/The Washington Post Köp foto Vänta 1 sekund att fortsätta. — Vi fortsätta att stå fast vid berättelsen, sade politikotaleskvinnan Lauren Edmonds i ett uttalande. “Vi uppdaterade det för att återspegla Ben Carsons på skivan svar på New York Times och andra nya detaljer, vilket understryker giltigheten av vår ursprungliga rapportering.” När dagen gick, konservativa media röster chiled in för att hålla med Carson. “Det är nästan som Politico är den officiella läcka maskin för republikanerna etablissemang,” Rush Limbaugh sade på sin syndikerade radioshow. Radioprogramledare och bloggare Erick Erickson ersatte ett helt inlägg om “början av Ben Carsons slut” med ett om en “demonstrant falsk” Politico rapport. Carson, 64 år, blev världsberömd för sina vågade operationer på Johns Hopkins Hospital i Baltimore och för sin berättelse om att resa sig ur fattigdomen i sydvästra Detroit. Denna vecka, då Carson har utmanat Donald Trump för huvudrollen i den republikanska presidentprimärtävlingen, har det kommit ett nytt fokus på Carsons personliga tro och på hur han berättar sin livshistoria. Först lade webbplatsen BuzzFeed upp en 17-årig video av ett inledande tal där Carson erbjuder en alternativ teori om varför de gamla egyptierna byggde pyramiderna. Enligt Carsons talande byggdes de inte till att vara gravar, som historiker och arkeologer säger. I stället byggdes de för spannmålslagring, i enlighet med den bibliska berättelsen om Josef, i vilken patriarken gav faraon rådet att lagra säd för år av hungersnöd. Carson berättade för CBS News denna vecka att han fortfarande tror att pyramiderna var sädesmagasin, säger beviset var i förseglade kammare inuti strukturerna. — Det skulle du behöva, om du försökte bevara säden under en lång tid, sade han. [Ben Carson tror att Joseph byggde Egyptens pyramider för att lagra säd] Sedan sökte CNN verifiera en viktig del av Carsons livshistoria: att han som ung man i Detroit hade begått våldshandlingar, bland annat slagit sönder en pojkes näsa med en kastad sten, försökt hugga en vän i buken och hotat sin egen mor med en hammare under ett gräl. CNN intervjuade nio personer som kände Carson under hans barndom och som sade att de våldsamma incidenterna inte passade deras minnen av honom. Carson sa att CNN inte talade med rätt personer. “Jag var i allmänhet en trevlig person,” berättade han för nätverket. — Det är bara det, att jag hade ett mycket dåligt lynne. Så om du inte var offer för det humöret, varför skulle du veta det?” Det var en ovanligt märklig situation: en presidentkandidat insisterade, inför skepticismen, på att han verkligen hade en historia av våld. Den del av Carsons liv som är aktuell fredag — det ”erbjudande” han fick, eller inte fick, från West Point — är en historia som Carson har berättat upprepade gånger i böcker, intervjuer och tal. Han berättar det i samband med sin snabba uppgång genom high school Army ROTC, som slutade med honom som den högst rankade kadetten i Detroit. ”Jag erbjöds ett stipendium till West Point”, skrev Carson i sin memoar från 1990, ”Giftade händer”. ”Jag tackade inte nej till stipendiet direkt, men jag lät dem veta att en militär karriär inte var dit jag såg mig själv gå. Hur överlycklig jag än kände mig över att bli erbjuden ett sådant stipendium, blev jag inte riktigt frestad. Stipendiet skulle ha förpliktat mig att tillbringa fyra år i militärtjänst efter att jag avslutat college, vilket utesluter mina chanser att gå vidare till läkarskola. I den redovisningen och andra, verkar Carson förlita sig på lösa, breda definitioner för orden “erbjudande” och “skolarskap.” I själva verket måste sökande till West Point sponsras av en kongressledamot eller sekreterare i armén. Om de accepteras deltar de i undervisningsfri: Det finns inga ”skolarships” på West Point utöver de fördelar som alla kadetter får. Doug Watts, en talesman för Carsons kampanj, sade att Carson aldrig avslutade processen för acceptans av West Point och aldrig hade någon officiell sponsor. I själva verket, i "Giftade händer", klargör Carson att han faktiskt endast sökte till en skola: Yale. “Varje högskola krävde en tio-dollars icke-återbetalningsbar inträdesavgift skickas med ansökan,” Carson skrev. “Jag hade exakt tio dollar, så jag kunde bara ansöka om en.” Ändå, hans kampanj talesman sade, det var lämpligt att säga att Carson hade ett “erbjudande” av ett stipendium eftersom militära ledare hade sagt till honom att hans acceptans skulle vara en säker sak. — Han fick veta av ROTC:s befälhavare, att han kunde få en tid, sade Watts. ”Dr. Carson avslog erbjudandet, ansökte inte eller fortsatte med antagningen. Om han hade gjort det, och blivit accepterad, skulle det ha varit liktydigt med ett stipendium, detsamma som alla kadetter får.” I en av sina böcker gjorde Carson också ett liknande påstående om ett stipendieerbjudande från en annan skola. “Universitetet i Michigan hade erbjudit mig ett stipendium, men jag ville gå längre hemifrån,” skrev han i sin bok från 1999, “The Big Picture.” En talesman för University of Michigan, Rick Fitzgerald, sade att han inte kunde bekräfta det kontot. Universitetet har inte längre register från den tiden. Carsons läger sade att scenariot liknade det som gällde West Point: Han hade beslutat att ansöka på annat håll och aldrig lämnat in någon ansökan. Alice Crites och Robert Samuels bidrog till denna rapport. Washington (CNN) Ben Carson tillbringade en stor del av fredagen med att aggressivt motbevisa medias rapporter om hans förflutna -- en slående avvikelse från den fylliga personlighet han har visat upp på kampanjspåret. "Det finns en desperation på uppdrag av vissa att försöka hitta sätt att smutskasta mig eftersom de har tittat igenom allt, de har pratat med alla jag någonsin känt, alla jag någonsin har sett," Carson berättade reportrar på en media tillgänglighet i Florida. "Det måste vara en skandal. Det måste finnas en sköterska han har haft en affär med. Det måste finnas något. De har blivit desperata", fortsatte Carson. "Nästa vecka blir det min dagislärare som säger att jag kissade i byxorna. Det är löjligt. Men det är okej för jag förväntar mig det." Carsons personliga berättelse -- en central del av hans kampanj och stjärnkraft -- har länge kretsat kring hans skildringar av hans våldsamma förflutna och beskrivningar av hans tros helande krafter. I en berättelse som publicerades på torsdagen rapporterade CNN att barndomsvänner till Carson blev förvånade över våldsamma incidenter som han har beskrivit i en bok, offentliga tal och intervjuer och inte hade något minne av sådana händelser. Scott Glover och Maeve Reston talade med nio vänner, klasskamrater och grannar som växte upp med Carson, och ingen hade något minne av den ilska eller det våld som kandidaten har beskrivit. Fredag morgon på CNN: s "Nya Dag" sa han att nätverkets rapportering av hans förflutna var en "bunch of lögner." "Det här är en massa lögner, det är vad det är", berättade Carson för Alisyn Camerota när hon frågade om rapporten av Glover och Reston där de talade med människor Carson växte upp med. "Det här är en massa lögner som försöker säga att jag ljuger om min historia. Jag tycker att det är patetiskt, och i princip vad media gör är att de försöker få en distraherad." Foton: Ben Carsons karriär inom politiken Foton: Ben Carsons karriär inom politiken Ben Carson deltar i National Action Network (NAN) nationella konvent på Sheraton New York Times Square Hotel den 8 april 2015, i New York City. Dölj Bildtext 1 av 13 Foton: Ben Carsons karriär inom politiken Carson talar under den 41:a årliga Konservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) på Gaylord International Hotel and Conference Center den 8 mars 2014, i National Harbor, Maryland. Dölj Bildtext 2 av 13 Foton: Ben Carsons karriär inom politiken Carson talar till gäster på Iowa Freedom Summit den 24 januari 2015, i Des Moines, Iowa. Dölj Bildtext 3 av 13 Foton: Ben Carsons karriär inom politiken Carson är omgiven av supportrar då han väntar på att intervjuas på den årliga Konservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) på National Harbor, Maryland, utanför Washington den 26 februari 2015. Dölj bildtext 4 av 13 Foton: Ben Carsons karriär inom politiken Carson talar vid South Carolina Tea Party Coalition Convention den 18 januari 2015, i Myrtle Beach, South Carolina. En mängd konservativa presidenthoppare talade vid sammankomsten den andra dagen av en tredagarshändelse. Dölj Bildtext 5 av 13 Foton: Ben Carsons karriär inom politiken Carson levererar huvudtalet vid galan Wake Up America den 5 september 2014, i Scottsdale, Arizona. Dölj Bildtext 6 av 13 Foton: Ben Carsons karriär inom politiken Carson talar under den 41:a årliga Konservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) på Gaylord International Hotel and Conference Center den 8 mars 2014, i National Harbor, Maryland. Dölj bildtext 7 av 13 Foton: Ben Carsons karriär inom politiken Carson talar under den nationella bönefrukosten på Washington Hilton den 7 februari 2013, i Washington. Dölj bildtext 8 av 13 Foton: Ben Carsons karriär inom politiken Hedersdoktor och chef för pediatrisk neurokirurgi vid Johns Hopkins University, Carson poserar med skådespelaren James Pickens Jr. vid Jackie Robinson Foundation Annual Awards Dinner den 16 mars 2009, i New York City. Dölj Bildtext 9 av 13 Foton: Ben Carsons karriär inom politiken Carson var innan han hoppade in i konservativ politik känd för sitt arbete som neurokirurg. Carson tilldelades presidentmedaljen för frihet av dåvarande presidenten George W. Bush den 19 juni 2008. Vid den tiden var han föreståndare för barnkirurgin vid Johns Hopkins Hospital i Baltimore i Maryland. Dölj bildtext 10 av 13 Foton: Ben Carsons karriär inom politiken I en berättelse som väckte internationell uppmärksamhet var Carson redo att separera ett par 10-åriga indiska flickor, Saba och Farah Shakel, som är förenade i spetsen i New Delhi, Indien. Här talar han inför en presskonferens på Indraprashtra Apollo Hospital den 4 oktober 2005. Dölj Bildtext 11 av 13 Foton: Ben Carsons karriär inom politiken Carson och ett team på 20 specialister godkände proceduren efter att ha studerat flickornas hjärnor; dock var deras föräldrar oroliga för sina döttrars liv och gav inte läkarna tillstånd att operera. Operationen blev inte av. Dölj bildtext 12 av 13 Foton: Ben Carsons karriär i politiken Carson observerar starten av neurokirurgi förfaranden på Raffles Hospital i Singapore den 6 juli 2003. Carson och doktor Keith Goh, lämnade, utförde en komplex operation som misslyckades med att separera 29-åriga tvillingar Ladan och Laleh Bijani, som anslöts i spetsen. Göm Bildtext 13 av 13 Camerota tryckte tillbaka på Carsons argument att reportrarna inte pratade med personer som kände honom tidigare än high school, men Carson avvisade det och inledde en aggressiv attack mot media. Han anklagade media för att inte granska president Barack Obama och Hillary Clinton i samma grad. "Den granskning som ni alla gjorde med president Obama kommer inte ens nära, kommer inte ens i närheten av vad ni försöker göra i mitt fall, och ni kommer bara att fortsätta att gå tillbaka, "Han sade detta för 12 år sedan" - det är bara skräp," sade Carson. "Lägg av." Reston och Glover närmade sig vid upprepade tillfällen Carsonkampanjen under deras rapportering och återigen innan de publicerade berättelsen. Men kampanjpersonalen avböjde att kommentera eller hjälpa dem att lokalisera klasskamrater eller våldsoffer som kunde ge insikter om Carsons förflutna. På "New Day" förklarade Carson inte vilka aspekter av berättelsen han anser är felaktiga. CNN:s berättelse påpekade att ingen av de intervjuade ifrågasatte sanningshalten i hans skildringar, men sade att de var förvånade över dem och inte återspeglade den ungdom som de kände till. Under tiden publicerade Politico en berättelse mitt på fredagen som hävdade att Carson-kampanjen medgav att han "fabricerade" en redogörelse för att ansöka och bli antagen till West Point -- en rubrik som utloppet senare mjuknade. På fredag kväll sa Carson till reportrar att det var en "fet lögn". I sin självbiografi sade Carson inte uttryckligen att han sökte till skolan. "Efteråt, sergeant. Hunt presenterade mig för general (William) Westmoreland, och jag åt middag med honom och kongressmedaljörerna. Senare erbjöds jag ett stipendium till West Point. Jag tackade inte nej till stipendiet direkt, men jag lät dem veta att en militär karriär inte var dit jag såg mig själv gå", skrev Carson. Carson erkände själv i en intervju med The New York Times att stipendieerbjudandet var "informellt". "Det var, du vet, en informell "med en skiva som din vi kunde lätt ge dig ett stipendium till West Point," sade han. Armstrong Williams, Carsons företagsledare, sade tidigare på dagen att kandidaten "alltid varit tydlig med att han aldrig sökt. Han lät dem graciöst få veta att medicin var hans kall." "Det är tydligt att vad Politico författaren, med vad han försökte vinna med rubriken, inte styrkte det med sin artikel," Williams berättade CNN: s Wolf Blitzer. Politico rapporterade också att West Point skulle ha ett register över om han sökte 1969. Men West Point talade om för Theresa Brinkerhoff att det inte skulle finnas några uppgifter om Carsons interaktion med skolan om han inte skrev in sig. Filer om potentiella kadetter från den tiden skulle bara ha förvarats i tre år om inte personen blev student, sade hon. "Oavsett vad vid denna punkt, eftersom skivorna var så många år sedan, skulle vi inte ha något på honom," sade hon. Medan ett officiellt antagningsbrev skulle ha kommit från generaladjutanten i armén, som inte var Westmoreland, sade hon att det var vanligt att toppmilitära tjänstemän rekryterade de bästa och smartaste gymnasieeleverna. Och hon sa att hon kunde föreställa sig att skolans brist på undervisning -- som en federalt finansierad institution -- kunde ha kommunicerats eller tolkats som ett stipendium. "Jag skulle inte tycka att konstigt, att en general skulle fortsätta en diskussion för att typ prata med honom och säga, 'Vet du vad West Point skulle erbjuda dig?' Och om du använder allmän terminologi till en 17-åring, kan jag se hur du skulle kalla dem stipendier. Vi använder inte den terminologin, (men) jag kunde se hur det kunde ske", sade Brinkerhoff. På en gala för den svarta republikanen Caucus i södra Florida i Palm Beach Gardens på fredagskvällen reflekterade Carson över politikens "smutsiga värld". "Många gånger säger folk: 'Varför skulle någon som har haft en underbar karriär engagera sig i politikens smutsiga värld?' Jag frågar mig ofta det när jag vaknar på morgonen. Det är en smutsig värld", sa Carson. Han nämnde inte granskningen av honom under återstoden av talet, utan anspelade i korthet på hur han med större kraft driver tillbaka nu. "Många tror att jag är mjuk för att jag är tyst. Jag tror att de börjar få reda på att jag inte är mjuk. Och att jag kan vara högljudd, särskilt när orättvisan sker," sade han. Â°°
Write a summary based on this article: Ben Carson's Republican presidential campaign says he was never admitted to the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, but in an Oct. 9 interview with CBS's Charlie Rose, Carson told another story. (Reuters) Ben Carson's Republican presidential campaign says he was never admitted to the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, but in an Oct. 9 interview with CBS's Charlie Rose, Carson told another story. (Reuters) Republican presidential candidate Ben Carson — now making the transition from living legend to audited candidate — faced new questions Friday about how he tells his powerful life story. Carson has said for years that he was offered a ‘full scholarship' to the U.S. Military Academy when he was a high-aching high school Army ROTC cadet in the late 1960s. But Carson never applied to West Point, was never accepted and never received a formal scholarship offer. In fact, West Point does not offer scholarships; all cadets participate for free. The story was first reported Friday by Politico. Carson responded to the resulting controversy by saying that when he spoke of an "offer", he referred to informal, oral statements of encouragement from military leaders he met through ROTC, Reserve Officers' Training Corps . "I learned that because of my achievements, they could manage to get me into West Point and that I wouldn't have to pay anything," Carson said on the Christian Broadcasting Network. He said he decided not to apply and went to Yale University instead of seeking medicine. ‘There was no application process [at West Point]. I have never even started on that path,” Carson said. Carson's campaign threw the episode as new evidence that the news media were stalking the candidate. The tension between Carson and the media came to an abscess Friday night in Florida, where the candidate at a combative news conference asked why President Obama had not been subjected to such scrutiny. After questions about Republican presidential candidate Ben Carson's past came under question, Carson said the media are "getting desperate" while at a news conference in Florida on Friday, Nov. 6. (Reuters) “The word ‘a scholarship was offered’ was a big deal, but the president of the U.S. academic records is not sealed?” he said. The original Politico report explained that Carson had ‘fabricated’ a story of ‘his application and acceptance' at West Point. It also claimed that the candidate had ‘approved’ the production. Carson's campaign fiercely denied these statements. [Ben Carson's first head start into politics, on both sides of an abortion battle in 1992] The history of politics seemed to mischaracterize a small but important detail in the way Carson has told the story. In many cases, Carson only hinted that he received a formal offer from West Point. He never specifically said that he had been accepted or even that he had applied. “It gives journalism a bad reputation,” said Armstrong Williams, Carson’s close friend and business executive. “It only fits into Dr. Carson’s story of a witch hunt” by the media. In the middle of the afternoon, Politico published a new version of his story that no longer contained the wording that Carson had ‘fabricated' part of his biography. Later in the day, the news site posted an editor's note stating that the story should have made it clear that Carson never claimed to have applied for admission to West Point. 1 of 50 Full Screen Autoplay Close Skip Ad × View photos of Ben Carson on the campaign trail View Images The retired neurosurgeon is seeking the Republican presidential nomination. Caption The retired neurosurgeon seeks the Republican presidential nomination. February 20, 2016 Ben Carson greets people at the Beacon Drive-In restaurant in Spartanburg on the day of the South Carolina Republican presidential primary. Jabin Botsford/The Washington Post Buy photo Wait 1 second to proceed. “We continue to stand by the story,” said political spokeswoman Lauren Edmonds in a statement. “We updated it to reflect Ben Carsons on the record’s response to the New York Times and other new details, underlining the validity of our original reporting.” As the day went by, conservative media voices chiled in to agree with Carson. “It’s almost like Politico is the official leak machine for Republican establishments,” Rush Limbaugh said on his syndicated radio show. Radio host and blogger Erick Erickson replaced an entire post about “the beginning of Ben Carson’s end” with one about a “demonstrant false” Politico report. Carson, aged 64, was world-famous for his daring operations at Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore and for his story of rising out of poverty in southwestern Detroit. This week, as Carson has challenged Donald Trump for the lead role in the Republican presidential primary competition, there has been a new focus on Carson's personal faith and on how he tells his life story. First, the BuzzFeed website posted a 17-year video of an initial speech in which Carson offers an alternative theory as to why the old Egyptians built the pyramids. According to Carson's speaking, they were not built to be tombs, as historians and archaeologists say. Rather, they were built for grain storage, in line with the Bible account of Joseph, in which the patriarch advised Pharaoh to store grain for years of famine. Carson told CBS News this week that he still believes the pyramids were granaries, saying the evidence was in sealed chambers inside the structures. “You would need that if you tried to preserve the grain for a long time,” he said. [Ben Carson believes Joseph built Egypt's pyramids to store grain] Then CNN sought to verify an important part of Carson's life story: that as a young man in Detroit he had committed acts of violence, including smashing a boy's nose with a thrown stone, trying to stab a friend in the abdomen and threatening his own mother with a hammer during an argument. CNN interviewed nine people who knew Carson during his childhood and who said that the violent incidents did not fit their memories of him. Carson said CNN didn't talk to the right people. “I was generally a nice person,” he told the network. “It’s just that I had a very bad temper. So if you were not the victim of that mood, why should you know it?” It was an unusually strange situation: a presidential candidate insisted, in the face of skepticism, that he really had a history of violence. The part of Carson's life that is current Friday — the ‘offer' he received, or not received, from West Point — is a story Carson has told repeatedly in books, interviews, and speeches. He tells it in connection with his rapid rise through the high school Army ROTC, which ended with him as the highest-ranking cadette in Detroit. “I was offered a scholarship to West Point,” Carson wrote in his 1990 memoir, “Hands given”. “I didn’t turn down the scholarship directly, but I let them know that a military career wasn’t where I saw myself go. No matter how overjoyed I was to be offered such a scholarship, I was not quite tempted. The scholarship would have committed me to spending four years in military service after I finished college, which excludes my chances of moving on to medical school. In that accounting and others, Carson seems to rely on loose, broad definitions for the words “offer” and “schoolship.” In fact, applicants to West Point must be sponsored by a congressman or secretary of the army. If accepted, they participate in tuition-free: There are no ‘schoolships’ at West Point beyond the benefits of all cadets. Doug Watts, a spokesman for Carson's campaign, said Carson never finished the process of acceptance of West Point and never had an official sponsor. In fact, in "Married hands", Carson makes it clear that he actually only applied for one school: Yale. “Every college required a ten-dollar non-refundable entry fee sent with the application,” Carson wrote. “I had exactly ten dollars, so I could only apply for one.” Yet, his campaign spokesman said, it was appropriate to say that Carson had an “offer” of a scholarship because military leaders had told him that his acceptance would be a sure thing. — He was told by ROTC commander, that he could have a time, Watts said. ‘Dr. Carson rejected the offer, did not apply or continued with admissions. If he had done so, and had been accepted, it would have been tantamount to a scholarship, the same as all cadets receive.” In one of his books Carson also made a similar claim about a scholarship offer from another school. “The University of Michigan had offered me a scholarship, but I wanted to go further from home,” he wrote in his 1999 book, “The Big Picture.” A spokesman for the University of Michigan, Rick Fitzgerald, said he could not confirm that account. The university no longer has records from that time. Carson's camp said the scenario was similar to that of West Point: He had decided to apply elsewhere and never filed an application. Alice Crites and Robert Samuels contributed to this report. Washington (CNN) Ben Carson spent much of Friday aggressively disproving media reports of his past -- a striking departure from the rich personality he has displayed on the campaign trail. "There's a desperation on behalf of some to try to find ways to smear me because they've looked through everything, they've talked to everyone I've ever known, everyone I've ever seen," Carson told reporters on a media availability in Florida. "It must be a scandal. There must be a nurse he's had an affair with. There's gotta be something. They've become desperate," Carson continued. "Next week, it'll be my kindergarten teacher who says I peed in my pants. That's ridiculous. But it's okay because I expect it." Carson's personal story -- a central part of his campaign and star power -- has long revolved around his accounts of his violent past and descriptions of the healing powers of his faith. In a story published on Thursday, CNN reported that childhood friends of Carson were surprised by violent incidents that he has described in a book, public speeches, and interviews and had no memory of such events. Scott Glover and Maeve Reston spoke to nine friends, classmates and neighbors who grew up with Carson, and no one had any memory of the anger or violence that the candidate has described. Friday morning at CNN's "New Day" he said the network's reporting of his past was a "bunch of lies." "This is a lot of lies, that's what it is," Carson told Alisyn Camerota when she asked about the report of Glover and Reston where they spoke to people Carson grew up with. "This is a lot of lies trying to tell me I'm lying about my story. I think it's pathetic, and basically what the media does is they're trying to get a distracted one." Photos: Ben Carson's career in politics Photos: Ben Carson's career in politics Ben Carson participates in the National Action Network (NAN) national convention at the Sheraton New York Times Square Hotel on April 8, 2015, in New York City. Hide Caption 1 of 13 Photos: Ben Carson's career in politics Carson speaks during the 41st Annual Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) at the Gaylord International Hotel and Conference Center on March 8, 2014, in National Harbor, Maryland. Hide Caption 2 of 13 Photos: Ben Carson's career in politics Carson speaks to guests at the Iowa Freedom Summit on 24 January 2015, in Des Moines, Iowa. Hide Caption 3 of 13 Photos: Ben Carson's career in politics Carson is surrounded by supporters as he is waiting to be interviewed at the annual Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) at National Harbor, Maryland, outside Washington on February 26, 2015. Hide caption 4 of 13 Photos: Ben Carson's career in politics Carson speaks at the South Carolina Tea Party Coalition Convention on January 18, 2015, in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina. A host of conservative presidential jumpers spoke at the convention on the second day of a three-day event. Hide Caption 5 of 13 Photos: Ben Carson's career in politics Carson delivers the main speech at the Wake Up America gala on September 5, 2014, in Scottsdale, Arizona. Hide Caption 6 of 13 Photos: Ben Carson's career in politics Carson speaks during the 41st Annual Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) at the Gaylord International Hotel and Conference Center on March 8, 2014, in National Harbor, Maryland. Hide caption 7 of 13 Photos: Ben Carson's career in politics Carson speaks during the national prayer breakfast at Washington Hilton on February 7, 2013, in Washington. Hide caption 8 of 13 Photos: Ben Carson's career in politics Honorary Doctorate and Director of Paediatric Neurosurgery at Johns Hopkins University, Carson poses with actor James Pickens Jr. at the Jackie Robinson Foundation Annual Awards Dinner on March 16, 2009, in New York City. Hide Caption 9 of 13 Photos: Ben Carson's career in politics Carson was before he jumped into conservative politics known for his work as a neurosurgeon. Carson was awarded the Presidential Medal for Freedom by then President George W. Bush on June 19, 2008. At that time, he was director of child surgery at Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore, Maryland. Hide caption 10 of 13 Photos: Ben Carson's career in politics In a story that attracted international attention, Carson was ready to separate a couple of 10-year-old Indian girls, Saba and Farah Shakel, who are united at the head of New Delhi, India. Here he speaks before a press conference at Indraprashtra Apollo Hospital on October 4, 2005. Hide Caption 11 of 13 Photos: Ben Carson's career in politics Carson and a team of 20 specialists approved the procedure after studying the girls' brains; however, their parents were concerned about the lives of their daughters and did not give doctors permission to operate. The operation didn't happen. Hide caption 12 of 13 Photos: Ben Carson's career in politics Carson observes the start of neurosurgery procedures at Raffles Hospital in Singapore on 6 July 2003. Carson and Dr. Keith Goh, left, performed a complex operation that failed to separate 29-year-old twins Ladan and Laleh Bijani, who joined at the head. Hide Caption 13 of 13 Camerota pressed back on Carson's argument that the reporters did not talk to people who knew him earlier than high school, but Carson rejected it and launched an aggressive attack on the media. He accused the media of not reviewing President Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton to the same degree. "The review that you all did with President Obama doesn't even get close, doesn't even come close to what you're trying to do in my case, and you're just going to keep going back, "He said this 12 years ago"--it's just trash," Carson said. "Oh, come on." Reston and Glover repeatedly approached the Carson campaign during their reporting and again before publishing the story. But campaign staff declined to comment or help them locate classmates or victims of violence who could provide insights into Carson's past. On "New Day", Carson did not explain what aspects of the story he considers to be incorrect. CNN's story pointed out that none of the interviewees questioned the veracity of his accounts, but said they were surprised at them and did not reflect the youth they knew. Meanwhile, Politico published a story mid-Friday claiming that the Carson campaign admitted that he "fabricated" an account of applying and being admitted to West Point -- a headline that discharge later softened. On Friday night, Carson told reporters it was a "fat lie." In his autobiography, Carson did not explicitly say that he applied for school. "Afterwards, Sergeant. Hunt introduced me to General (William) Westmoreland, and I had dinner with him and the congressional medalists. Later, I was offered a scholarship to West Point. I didn't turn down the scholarship immediately, but I let them know that a military career wasn't where I saw myself go," Carson wrote. Carson himself admitted in an interview with The New York Times that the scholarship offer was "informal". "It was, you know, an informal "with a record like yours we could easily give you a scholarship to West Point," he said. Armstrong Williams, Carson's business manager, said earlier in the day that the candidate "always made it clear that he never sought. He gracefully let them know that medicine was his calling." "It is clear that what Politico the author, with what he tried to win with the headline, did not substantiate it with his article," Williams told CNN's Wolf Blitzer. Politico also reported that West Point would have a record of if he applied in 1969. But West Point told Theresa Brinkerhoff that there would be no record of Carson's interaction with the school unless he enrolled. Files about potential cadets from that time would only have been stored for three years if the person did not become a student, she said. "No matter what at this point, because the records were so many years ago, we wouldn't have anything on him," she said. While an official admission letter would have come from the Adjutant General of the Army, who was not Westmoreland, she said it was common for top military officials to recruit the best and smartest high school students. And she said she could imagine that the school's lack of education -- as a federally funded institution -- could have been communicated or interpreted as a scholarship. "I wouldn't think that strange, that a general would continue a discussion to sort of talk to him and say, 'Do you know what West Point would offer you?' And if you use general terminology for a 17-year-old, I can see how you'd call them scholarships. We don't use that terminology, (but) I could see how that could happen," Brinkerhoff said. At a gala for black Republican Caucus in southern Florida in Palm Beach Gardens on Friday night, Carson reflected on the "dirty world" of politics. "Many times people say, 'Why would someone who has had a wonderful career get involved in the dirty world of politics?' I often ask myself that when I wake up in the morning. It's a dirty world," Carson said. He did not mention the review of him for the remainder of the speech, but briefly alluded to how he is pushing back now with greater force. "Many people think I'm soft because I'm quiet. I think they're starting to find out I'm not soft. And that I can be loud, especially when injustice happens," he said. <unk>
– Ben Carson njuter inte av den grad av granskning som han får från media – och han minns verkligen inte att Barack Obama fick samma grad av "vetting" när han kandiderade till president. Han kallade media "förtvivlad" på en fredagskonferens, anklagande reportrar för att prata med nästan alla han någonsin träffat i ett försök att skamfila honom. "Det måste vara en skandal. Det måste finnas en sköterska han har haft en affär med. Det måste finnas nåt. De har blivit desperata", sade han, per CNN. "Nästa vecka blir det min dagislärare som säger att jag kissade i byxorna. Det är löjligt. Men det är okej eftersom jag förväntar mig det," sade han, tillägger att han minns att "ganska motsatsen" händer med Obama. Carson bestridde en fredagspoliticorapport om att han hade "fabricerat" ett påstående om att ha erbjudits ett "fullt stipendium" till West Point, och kallade berättelsen för en "fetskallig" lögn. Politikens historia uppdaterades senare för att mildra anklagelsen, som centrerade sig på vad Carsons kampanj säger var ett informellt erbjudande, Washington Post rapporterar. "Ordet 'ett stipendium erbjöds' var en stor sak, men presidenten för USA: s akademiska register förseglas inte," Carson sade. Han avvisade också en CNN-berättelse som kastar tvivel över våldsamma incidenter som han beskrev i biografin Gifted Hands, som Post-noterna har skapat den udda situationen att "en presidentkandidat inför skepticismen insisterar på att han verkligen hade en historia av våld." (Carsons ovanliga teori om Egyptens stora pyramider väckte också stor uppmärksamhet denna vecka.)
– Ben Carson does not enjoy the degree of scrutiny he receives from the media – and he certainly does not remember Barack Obama getting the same degree of "vetting" when he ran for president. He called the media "desperate" at a Friday conference, accusing reporters of talking to almost everyone he ever met in an attempt to tarnish him. "It must be a scandal. There must be a nurse he's had an affair with. There's gotta be something. They have become desperate," he said, per CNN. "Next week, it'll be my kindergarten teacher who says I peed in my pants. That's ridiculous. But it's okay because I expect it," he said, adding that he remembers that "quite the opposite" happens to Obama. Carson contested a Friday political report that he had "fabricated" a claim to have been offered a "full scholarship" to West Point, calling the story a "fat-headed" lie. The history of politics was later updated to mitigate the charge, which centered on what Carson's campaign says was an informal offer, the Washington Post reports. "The word 'a scholarship was offered' was a big deal, but the president of the U.S. academic records is not sealed," Carson said. He also rejected a CNN story that casts doubt over violent incidents that he described in the biography Gifted Hands, which the Post notes have created the odd situation that "a presidential candidate facing skepticism insists that he really had a history of violence." (Carson's unusual theory of Egypt's great pyramids also attracted much attention this week.)