Dr. Ben Carson on Tuesday night continued to criticize Sen. Ted Cruz’s (R-TX) presidential campaign for disseminating reports that Carson had dropped out of the race before the end of the Iowa caucuses.
Carson on Monday night accused the Cruz campaign of employing “dirty tricks” and on Tuesday called on the Texas senator to address the situation, arguing that the campaign’s actions cost Carson votes in Iowa. Cruz apologized to Carson, but said that discussing news reports is “fair game.”
On Tuesday night, Fox News’ Bill O’Reilly asked Carson if CNN was to blame, not Cruz, given that the network published a report that Carson was heading to Florida after the Iowa caucus. Carson’s campaign has clarified that the retired neurosurgeon simply wanted to head home for fresh clothes.
“Well, isn’t it CNN’s fault, then, rather than Ted Cruz? Because if CNN did that — and believe me, CNN has put out false information about me, this program, Fox News. We’re not surprised. It seems like that’s what they do over there,” O’Reilly said to Carson.
Carson responded by explaining that he has spoken to Cruz, who said he was unaware that his campaign was spreading the reports.
O’Reilly again asked if CNN was really to blame, but Carson would not take the heat off of Cruz.
“Yeah but Bill, here’s the issue: a culture exists within the Cruz camp that would allow people to take advantage of a situation like this in a very dishonest way. Isn’t this the same thing we see with the Obama administration? The IRS scandal? No responsibility,” Carson said. “Let’s see what in fact the Cruz campaign will do about those individuals who inappropriately disseminated this information knowing that the caucuses were not over. They were obviously anxious to get it out there, weren’t they?”
Carson has accused supporters of the Cruz campaign of telling caucusgoers in Iowa that Carson had dropped out and urging them to vote for Cruz instead. A member of the Cruz campaign allegedly sent an email to precinct captains telling them to inform Carson supporters that the retired neurosurgeon had suspended his campaign, according reports from CNN and Gawker.
@Gawker pic.twitter.com/2SYc0rnFWT
— rickrock7 (@metalfirez) February 3, 2016
Watch O’Reilly’s interview with Carson:
