*Ted Cruz may have got one over on Donald Trump with a victory in Monday’s Iowa caucus, but Ben Carson believes the support Cruz has gotten from voters should be reexamined.
According to The Washington Post, Carson alleges that Cruz’s staff utilized what he alleges were “dirty tricks” on the night of the caucuses. As a result, the former neurosurgeon feels evangelicals should rethink their support of Cruz.
“I make no bones about the fact that I am a person of faith. I believe what it says in Matthew 7:20, that ‘By their fruits, you will know them,'” Carson told reporters at an impromptu press conference in Washington, D.C. on Wednesday afternoon. “I hope you will judge all the other people who are running for this position by the same standards.”
Carson’s comments come days after Cruz won the Iowa GOP caucus with 27.6 percent of the vote. Trump ended up placing second with 24 percent, followed by Florida senator Marco Rubio at third with 23 percent. Carson ultimately placed fourth with 9.3 percent of the vote.
Although Cruz apologized to Carson after his staffers told Iowans Monday night that Carson was quitting the race, Carson wasn’t sold. Rather than go at Cruz directly, Carson took an alternate path in suggesting that Cruz fire those responsible for what happened.
“When I discovered there were things in my campaign that I couldn’t agree with after really doing an investigation, I made changes. I think that is what a good leader does,” Carson said at the National Press Club.
The source of the drama with Cruz stems from comments an adviser to Carson made to the media Monday night that Carson would not immediately go on to New Hampshire or South Carolina. Instead, the advisor mentioned that Carson was flying to Florida to get a “fresh set of clothes.”
Although Carson disowned the advisor’s comment, the damage was done as some people took it as a sign his campaign was winding down.
“I didn’t make that announcement,” Carson said. “I didn’t say it so don’t blame me.”
Doing damage control, Cruz released a statement Tuesday, acknowledging that his campaign should have clarified that Carson was not dropping out of the race when it became clear that this was case.
“Last night, when our political team saw the CNN post saying that Dr. Carson was not carrying on to New Hampshire and South Carolina, our campaign updated grassroots leaders just as we would with any breaking news story,” Cruz’s statement read.
“That’s fair game. What the team then should have done was send around the follow-up statement from the Carson campaign clarifying that he was indeed staying in the race when that came out.”
Despite his humble acknowledgment of Cruz’s caucus victory in Iowa, Trump ended up returning to his no-nonsense style when he accused the Texas senator of committing “fraud” and called for a new election in Iowa.
“Ted Cruz didn’t win Iowa, he stole it. That is why all of the polls were so wrong and why he got far more votes than anticipated. Bad!” Trump tweeted Wednesday as he blasted Cruz directly, unlike Carson.
“Many people voted for Cruz over Carson because of this Cruz fraud. Also, Cruz sent out a VOTER VIOLATION certificate to thousands of voters,” the real estate mogul added.
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