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BEN CARSON: Here's proof these media investigations are bogus

Colin Campbell   

BEN CARSON: Here's proof these media investigations are bogus
Politics3 min read

ben carson

AP Photo/Alan Diaz

Ben Carson.

Retired neurosurgeon Ben Carson is firing back at the media after a series of press investigations into his background.

He has the evidence, he said Sunday on ABC's "This Week," to prove that the reports amount to nothing more than a "hit job."

The Republican presidential candidate targeted two investigations in particular: CNN's inability to corroborate his claim of having a violent childhood, and The Wall Street Journal's questioning of the existence of a psychology class he said he took at Yale University.

In a Facebook post early Monday morning, Carson posted what he said was a 1997 Parade Magazine in which his mother backed up his claims of violent incidents:

And in a Sunday post on Facebook, Carson posted what he said was the syllabus of the course disputed by The Journal:

Carson's campaign was rocked at the end of last week by a series of media reports suggesting he had fabricated elements of his childhood and of his days as a young adult in his memoir, "Gifted Hands."

Politico reported that Carson never received a "full scholarship" to West Point, as he wrote in his book. Carson now says he received an informal offer - he said he was told he would be a candidate for admission by a top US general - that he interpreted as a scholarship offer.

Meanwhile, CNN talked to people who knew Carson in his teenage years. The network's investigation could not find anyone who remembered the doctor known for his calmness as a violent child who attacked his mother and tried to stab a friend, as portrayed in his book. Carson now describes the stabbing victim as a close relative and says he is protecting the person's identity from the media.

The Journal looked into Carson's claim of attending a class called Perceptions 301, in which he said a teacher tricked the students into marching out of the room while he stayed and was photographed for the Yale student newspaper. The Journal reported that no such class existed and couldn't find the photograph in the newspaper's archives.

But Carson said Sunday on ABC that he didn't remember the course number and his coauthor had added the number to give "meat" to the readers.

In a Facebook post that day, Carson produced a newspaper article suggesting that the entire Yale incident actually occurred but was a hoax perpetrated on the students in the class, including Carson:

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