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Carson Staffer Dies in Tragic Iowa Car Accident

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A 25-year-old staffer for Republican presidential candidate Ben Carson died Tuesday in a car accident that also injured three campaign volunteers. Carson suspended his campaign for the remainder of the day and planned to travel to Omaha where Braden Joplin was being treated at Nebraska Medical Center’s trauma center.

The campaign confirmed Tuesday evening that Joplin died as the result of his injuries.

“Braden Joplin died following an auto accident on slick roads near Atlantic, Iowa,” the campaign said in a statement. “Three other passengers in the van were treated and released from a hospital in Atlantic, but Joplin’s injuries were severe, and he was brought to Nebraska Medical Center’s trauma center in critical condition for treatment.”

Carson released a statement Monday night saying it was a privilege to know Joplin.

“One of the precious few joys of campaigning is the privilege of meeting bright young men and women who are so enthusiastic about their country that they will freely give of their time and energy to work on its behalf. America lost one of those bright young men today,” Carson said. “I had the privilege of knowing Braden Joplin personally, and am filled with a deep and profound sadness at his passing.” (Read more from “Carson Staffer Dies in Tragic Iowa Car Accident” HERE)

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Meet Ben Carson’s New Campaign Chairman – He May Actually Resurrect The Surgeon’s Campaign

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Ben Carson’s new campaign chairman, retired Major Gen. Robert F. Dees, says it’s time for the U.S. to reevaluate military policies like letting women serve in combat positions and allowing openly gay troops to serve.

Carson is debuting his “reinvigorated” campaign after a holiday shakeup that included the departure of a handful of top advisers and new leadership, including the recently promoted Dees, who sat down with Carson for an interview Monday with CNN’s Jake Tapper at his Alexandria campaign headquarters.

The retired Army major general has in the past been outspoken about the nation’s military, blasting “social engineering” he contends is degrading the national defense.

Under President Barack Obama, the military has allowed gays and lesbians to openly serve in the military and opened up all combat positions to women — who were previously banned from serving in certain roles.

Dees stood by his criticism Monday, saying “the military is designed to provide for the common defense of our nation.” (Read more from “Meet Ben Carson’s New Campaign Chairman” HERE)

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Ben Carson’s Campaign Is Kicking off the New Year in a Horrible Way – This Won’t Be Easy for Him to Recover From

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Republican presidential candidate Ben Carson’s campaign was shaken up Thursday by the resignation of three of his most senior staffers — as the former neurosurgeon sees a drop in poll numbers and is raking in more donations than his GOP rivals.

Communications Director Doug Watts told Fox News in a statement that he and campaign manager Barry Bennett had resigned from the campaign.

“Barry Bennett and I have resigned from the Carson campaign effective immediately,” Watts said. “We respect the candidate and we have enjoyed helping him go from far back in the field to top-tier status” . . .

The resignations come just after the Carson camp announced that they had brought in $23 million in donations in the fourth quarter, surpassing all other Republicans, including Texas Sen. Ted Cruz who had brought in $20 million.

“Having just announced raising $23m(illion) for the 4th Q(uarter), more than any other Republican candidate, and passing 1 million contributions and over 600 K unique donors since March, we are proud of our efforts for Dr. Carson and we wish him and his campaign the best of luck,” Watts said. (Read more from “Ben Carson’s Campaign Is Kicking off the New Year in a Horrible Way – This Won’t Be Easy for Him to Recover From” HERE)

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Here’s How the GOP Could Destroy Itself According to Ben Carson

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Ben Carson issued a scathing response to the Republican Party a day after the Washington Post reported that party leaders met to discuss the possibility of a brokered convention.

In a statement, Carson slammed the “party boss insider” meeting held Monday, attended by Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and Republican National Committee chair Reince Priebus, saying that meetings such as these will “destroy” the party.

The former neurosurgeon also said Donald Trump “will not be the only one” to leave the party if the “will of the people” is subverted in favor of the political establishment.

“If the leaders of the Republican Party want to destroy the party, they should continue to hold meetings like the one described in the Washington Post this morning,” Carson said in the statement.

“If this was the beginning of a plan to subvert the will of the voters and replace it with the will of the political elite, I assure you Donald Trump will not be the only one leaving the party,” Carson said. (Read more from “Here’s How the GOP Could Destroy Itself According to Ben Carson” HERE)

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Pro-Life Leaders Slam Carson After His Planned Parenthood Shooting Comments

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Pro-life leaders are used to being accused of hate speech by Planned Parenthood, Hillary Clinton, and campus feminist activists. But they were surprised to hear Dr. Ben Carson seem to agree that they spewed “hateful” and “immature” rhetoric on Sunday.

When CBS moderator John Dickerson asked Dr. Carson whether Planned Parenthood was right that pro-life rhetoric had led to Friday’s shooting inside a Colorado Springs abortion facility, the doctor readily agreed. There is “no question the hateful rhetoric exacerbates the situation,” Carson said on “Face the Nation.”

Pro-life advocates quickly rebuffed the notion that they had pushed 57-year-old Robert Lewis Dear to kill three people.

“Dr. Carson is sorely misinformed,” Lauren Muzyka, the executive director of Sidewalk Advocates for Life, told LifeSiteNews.

“The only thing that’s extreme is Planned Parenthood’s desire to see abortion without restriction through all nine months of pregnancy while they capitalize off dismembering preborn children and parting them out for sale,” she said. (Read more from “Pro-Life Leaders Slam Carson After His Planned Parenthood Shooting Comments” HERE)

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Karl Rove Opens His Rolodex for Ben Carson

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Republican strategist Karl Rove helped set up a meeting between top fundraisers for Ben Carson and casino mogul Steve Wynn.

Rove confirmed to Bloomberg Politics that he acted as the go-between for the Carson camp and Wynn, a sometimes business competitor of Donald Trump, the rival Carson has been batting all fall for the Republican nomination . . .

The mastermind of George W. Bush’s presidential victories in 2000 and 2004, Rove has not signed on with any of the presidential candidates this year, though he says he has dispensed advice to a number who have asked. Trump’s camp is viewing the effort to help the billionaire real estate mogul’s chief rival as an attack on the front-runner.

“Karl Rove is at the center of the GOP establishment — fearful of what real leadership in Washington D.C. will accomplish,” said Trump campaign manager Corey Lewandowski in a statement when asked about Rove’s role in facilitating the meeting between Carson and Wynn. “Mr. Trump continues to expose the all-talk, no action politicians propped up by their dark money super PACs that have failed the American people for far too long.” Rove helped found one of the pioneering dark money groups, Crossroads GPS, which as a non-profit does not have to disclose the identities of its donors.

Lewandowski did not address the role of Wynn, who, according to a Fox Business Network report in September, has repaired his sometimes rocky relationship with Trump and become a campaign adviser. Wynn and Trump have a complicated history dating back to the 1990s, where the two businessmen battled in the casino real estate market. (Read more from “Karl Rove Opens His Rolodex for Ben Carson” HERE)

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Watch: Carson Super-PAC Releases Anti-Syrian Refugee Ad

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Ben Carson’s super-PAC created a new commercial in response to the Paris terrorist attacks, highlighting the retired neurosurgeon’s hardline opposition to allowing Syrian refugees into the U.S.

In the ad — titled “Courage,” which is expected to be run alongside two others as an online or TV commercial in the early states of Iowa, New Hampshire, Nevada and South Carolina — Carson criticizes President Obama for welcoming refugees from Syria.

Carson’s voiceover declares: “When the president says things like, you know, through an executive order, ‘I’m going to bring 100,000 people in here from Syria,’ Congress needs to say ‘you do that and we’re going to defund everything, including your breakfast.'”

The 100,000 figure does not reflect Obama’s current policy. The president has said he plans to resettle at least 10,000 Syrian refugees over the next year.

The chairman of the pro-Carson super-PAC, John Philip Sousa IV, said in a telephone interview that Friday’s terrorism caused his super-PAC — named The 2016 Committee — to insert the Syrian refugee message and get the ad out quickly. (Read more from “Watch: Carson Super-PAC Releases Anti-Syrian Refugee Ad” HERE)

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‘Don’t Be Fools’: Trump Attacks Carson Biography

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Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump launched an attack on rival Ben Carson’s biographical claims at a rally in Iowa Thursday, at one point repeating a comparison between Carson’s “pathological temper” and child molestation.

At one point, after questioning the retired neurosurgeon’s story of how he nearly stabbed a friend during his adolescence, Trump bellowed, “”How stupid are the people of Iowa? How stupid are the people of this country to believe this crap?”

Earlier, in an interview with CNN, Trump pointed to Carson’s own descriptions of his violent actions during his youth.

“That’s a big problem because you don’t cure that,” Trump said. “That’s like, you know, I could say, they say you don’t cure — as an example, child molester. You don’t cure these people. You don’t cure the child molester.” Trump also said that “pathological is a very serious disease.”

When asked if he was satisfied with Carson’s claims that his anger was in the past, Trump responded, “You’ll have to ask him that question … Look, I hope he’s fine because I think it would be a shame.” (Read more from “‘Don’t Be Fools’: Trump Attacks Carson Biography” HERE)

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Ben Carson Slams Hillary and the Media in One Debate Answer

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Republican presidential front-runner Ben Carson took an opportunity during Tuesday’s debate to once again address what he considers unfair media scrutiny of his candidacy. Reacting to criticism over perceived autobiographical inconsistencies, the retired neurosurgeon acknowledged that he expected his White House bid to open his past up to investigation.

“I have no problem with being vetted,” he said. “What I do have a problem with is being lied about.”

Carson further lambasted the media’s behavior as evidence of an underlying partisan double standard.

“When I look at somebody like Hillary Clinton,” he said, “who sits there and tells her daughter and a government official that [the Benghazi attack] was a terrorist attack and then tells everyone else it was a video, where I come from, they call that a lie.”

He went on to say Clinton’s behavior is “very different from somebody misinterpreting when I said that I was offered a scholarship to West Point.” (Read more from “Ben Carson Slams Hillary and the Media in One Debate Answer” HERE)

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Wall Street Journal Humiliation: Ben Carson Hit Piece Debunked By… Buzzfeed

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Andrew Kaczynski of BuzzFeed writes that a Yale alumnus confirms the details of an anecdote from Dr. Ben Carson’s biography which the Wall Street Journal claimed to throw into doubt.

From BuzzFeed:

A former staff member of the Yale Record says that he recalls many of the details of a prank that Dr. Ben Carson wrote about in an autobiography.

The incident has been the subject of media coverage in recent days, after the Wall Street Journal reported on Friday that it found no evidence to support Carson’s claim that he was a victim of a hoax that led him to take a fake psychology test, as he wrote in his 1990 autobiography, Gifted Hands.

In an interview with BuzzFeed News on Monday, Curtis Bakal, an editorial assistant at the satirical Yale Record who says he helped write the fake test, said he was “99% certain the way Carson remembers it is correct.”

(Read more from “Wall Street Journal Humiliation: Ben Carson Hit Piece Debunked By… Buzzfeed” HERE)

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