Republican presidential candidate Dr. Ben Carson said Monday that the rumors that he had dropped out of the race to dissuade Iowa caucus voters were “dirty tricks” and insisted that he wasn’t “going anywhere.”
Carson began speaking before the Iowa caucus was called for Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX). As Carson’s speech dragged on, the audience grew louder and a cell phone rang out.
“We continue to accept deceit and dirty tricks and lies and people who do that are still viable candidates for President of the United States,” Carson said. “And we accept them. That’s the problem that is going on.”
Carson said his rivals—he didn’t say who specifically—circulated rumors that he had dropped out of the race to get their votes. It was reported early in the night that Carson was going on vacation after the caucuses, but his campaign clarified that he was briefly going home to Florida to grab fresh clothes.
“i just want you to know I’m not going anywhere,” Carson told the crowd. “This latest set of dirty tricks just intensifies my desire to work extremely hard to break down the ugliness of this system and bring it back to ‘we the people.'”
Preliminary caucus results showed Carson in fourth place.
