Carson advisor offers harsh assessment of GOP hopeful’s foreign policy

The NY Times is standing by its reporting on 2016 GOP presidential candidate Ben Carson’s supposed struggles with foreign policy, despite pushback from the retired neurosurgeon’s campaign.

“Nobody has been able to sit down with him and have him get one iota of intelligent information about the Middle East”, Duane R. Clarridge, a former Central Intelligence Agency official, told the newspaper. NBC’s Hallie Jackson reports for TODAY.

“When Chris Wallace kept asking who would you call first, I wasn’t interested in answering because I’ve learned if I said Egypt first, Jordan first, etc, the next thing would be why not this one first”, he said.

When pressed on who is source was who told him China was involved militarily in Syria, Carson’s advisers reportedly said it was a freelance American intelligence operative based in Iraq.

Unfortunately, the same can not be said of Carson’s foreign policy chops, which have brought unwanted attention to the candidate this week.

Carson has blamed for-profit insurers for squeezing out providers ability to offer more indigent care because hospitals and physicians spend so much money getting claims paid by insurance firms, which give providers low reimbursements.

On Tuesday, the Times published a story in which two of Carson’s top advisers said he “struggled to master the intricacies of the Middle East and national security” despite intense tutoring.

“Well, putting the special ops people in there is better than not having them there, because they, that’s why they’re called special ops”, he said.

Clarridge was indicted in 1991 “on seven felony counts of lying to cover up the Reagan administration’s secret shipments of arms to Iran”, the Chicago Tribune reported.

Dees, a U.S. Military Academy graduate whose biography lists commands in Korea and Europe, met Carson at a conference at a Baptist church in February.

“Dr Carson learns. He learns from 13 to 14 different people”, the adviser, Armstrong Williams, told Bloomberg TV on Tuesday.

Mr Carson has run an unconventional presidential campaign so far – light on details and heavy on the candidate’s rags-to-riches life story and quiet, humble affect. He’s steered clear of engaging in the back-and-forth with fellow candidates, despite harsh words from fellow front-runner Donald Trump. Hearing about this allegations, Carson’s staff enabled a statement calling Clarridge “an elderly gentleman” who isn’t part of Carson’s inner circle. Carson’s campaign would later say he was referring to “various military weapons and equipment that Syria is using in the current conflict” and does not believe Chinese troops are actually on the ground there.

Nearly 7 in 10 Democrats but just a third of Republicans said they approved of the decision to accept more refugees at that time.

“We have to have a broad plan”, Carson said.

“Carson is transparent and authentic and he’s learning”, Williams said. In an interview with the Erik Wemple Blog, Gabriel says he went first to Williams, the business manager, in search of contacts and context.