Armstrong Williams, a top staffer on the Ben Carson campaign, said Tuesday that the retired neurosurgeon talks to a handful of people about foreign policy “all the time.”
Carson’s aptitude for foreign policy was criticized by an advisor to his campaign to The New York Times. Duane Clarridge, a national security expert told the Times that Carson hasn’t picked up “one iota of intelligent information about the Middle East.”
Williams defended Carson and told Bloomberg Politics Tuesday that Clarridge was just one person Carson has spoken to about foreign policy.
“Dr. Carson talks to 13 or 14 people on foreign policy all the time,” Williams said.
Carson’s campaign had earlier responded to Clarridge’s comment and said the Times took “advantage of an elderly gentleman.”
Carolyn Ryan, the Times’ senior editor for politics, told Politico that Williams himself suggested the Times give Clarridge a call.
“Mr. Clarridge was the only adviser whose name was given to us by Armstrong Williams,” Ryan reportedly told Politico.
