Ben Carson Admits West Point Scholarship Story Was False

“The campaign never “admitted” to anything'”. At the time, Carson was 17 and was a member of the ROTC program at his Detroit high school. A West Point education is free for all of its students, so there are no scholarships per se.

In his autobiography, the renowned brain surgeon wrote that as a teen, he tried to stab a friend named Bob in the stomach with a knife but was stopped by the boy’s belt buckle.

Carson’s campaign told Politico that while Carson was a top ROTC student and met with Gen. William Westmoreland, he didn’t pursue admittance to West Point.

Earlier this week, CNN published a story casting doubt on Carson’s description of himself as a violent teenager, a description that is central to his often told story concerning his religious conversion, yet a story reporters can not verify.

Williams said “there was no fabrication” in the story, saying Carson was encouraged to attend the military academy in a meeting with Westmoreland and other top military personnel.

Asked if the Carson campaign has admitted to fabricating the story, Carson campaign manager Barry Bennett said “absolutely not”.

Carson has come under fresh scrutiny as he has surged to co-front-running status in the Republican presidential primary with real-estate tycoon Donald Trump. Politico spoke to Theresa Brinkerhoff, a spokeswoman for the military academy, who said that if Carson ever did apply, there would be a record of him beginning the process.

West Point confirmed on Friday there was no record of Carson completing an application for admission.

But the academy said it had no record of an application from Mr Carson. The nomination then begins a rigorous vetting process.

“This is a bunch of lies attempting to say I’m lying about my history”, he told CNN Friday. The report comes amid questions raised by CNN about stories Carson has told about violence in his childhood. He acknowledges that that wasn’t his friend’s real name, but he insists that the story itself is true. In a Facebook post from August, Carson responded to a question from someone named Bill, who “wanted to know if it was true that I was offered a slot at West Point after high school”.

I didn’t expect Ben Carson to be the Republican nominee, but I also didn’t expect him to go the way of Herman Cain. However, I think it’s safe to say that Carson will not win the Iowa caucuses, as he was favored to do.