Ben Carson Says Reports About Campaign Shakeup Are Overhyped

Ben Carson, whose campaign has come under increasing stress as his polling numbers have declined, suggested on Wednesday that a major shake-up was coming, only to seemingly reverse himself hours later.

Carson said a staff shakeup could be imminent, and left open the possibility that campaign manager Barry Bennett may not remain in charge. Everything is on the table, every job is on the table.

‘And they were convinced that I was going to fire everybody and that we were going to go in a completely different direction and that’s absolutely not true, ‘ Carson said. I asserted we are constantly looking at everything and continue to look at everything.

As recently as November, Carson had challenged real-estate billionaire Donald Trump as the front-runner in national polls. The Iowa caucuses, which will take place on February 1, will be followed by two other important early GOP primaries in New Hampshire and SC.

“We have come a long way and accomplished great things together, and together we look forward to winning in Iowa and beyond”, Carson noted in the above-noted article by the Washington Post.

Carson later told CNN in a statement released by his campaign that he is “refining some operational practices and streamlining some staff assignments to more aptly match the tasks ahead”.

Disagreements within the campaign’s highest ranks have broken out into the open on numerous occasions, pointing to a persistent and sharp division between Armstrong Williams – Carson’s longtime business manager who is not formally part of the campaign – and Bennett, a Republican operative. Ted Cruz (R-Texas), who has moved to the top of the polls in the state by galvanizing the Evangelical support that was once in Carson’s corner.

Carson’s interview with The Post was one of several he conducted Wednesday to discuss the state of his campaign and his decision to make personnel changes. “And, yes, we are looking at all those things”, he told the AP. The paper writes that Carson went on to “grumble” about how some of his aides are paid “five percent above average”.

“Everything. Everything is on the table”, he said of the potential changes. “I would wonder who else could get someone who is an outsider who has no organization to this point this quickly”.

An adviser told The Hill on Wednesday that Carson is on pace to raise about $23 million in the fourth quarter – an astounding sum likely to exceed his third quarter haul.

But Carson spent much of his run atop the polls defending his inspirational back-story from intense press scrutiny.

Carson has struggled to convey a grasp of foreign policy, an issue that rocketed to the top of GOP voters’ concerns after the terror attacks in Paris and San Bernardino.

“I think I have to directly address the issue”, he said, sitting in his basement game room, where the walls around him are covered in decades’ worth of accolades.