Presidential Candidate Ben Carson Admits He Lied About West Point Scholarship

After allegations arose yesterday regarding Dr. Ben Carson’s violent youth, the leading Republican candidate’s campaign admitted Friday another story from Carson’s past is false.

As Politico reported, the retired neurosurgeon revealed a story he’s maintained for nearly two decades that he received a full scholarship to West Point is not true.

In Carson’s 1996 autobiography, Gifted Hands, the neurosurgeon claims he met General William Westmoreland in 1969 at a dinner. Carson was the top ROTC student in Detroit and received an invitation to the dinner. After the meeting, Carson claimed he received an offer for a “full scholarship” to West Point, the famed military academy.

“Two soldiers who had won the Congressional Medal of Honor in Viet Nam were present,” wrote Carson. “More exciting to me, General William Westmoreland (very prominent in the Viet Nam war) attended with an impressive entourage. Afterward, Sgt. Hunt introduced me to General Westmoreland, and I had dinner with him and the Congressional Medal winners. Later I was offered a full scholarship to West Point.”

But Carson’s campaign staff now admits he never even applied to the school.

From Politico:

“In 1969, those who would have completed the entire process would have received their acceptance letters from the Army Adjutant General,” said Theresa Brinkerhoff, a spokeswoman for the academy.

She said West Point has no records that indicate Carson even began the application process.

“If he chose to pursue (the application process) then we would have records indicating such,” added Brinkerhoff.

But the tale seems to be even more unbelievable, as Politico also reported that General Westmoreland, according to military records, never visited Detroit around Memorial Day 1969. Politico reports records show the General was in Washington that day and played tennis.

“When presented with this evidence,” Politico reported, “Carson’s campaign conceded the story was false.”

This revelation comes just a day after CNN reported that it can find no evidence to corroborate Carson’s alleged violent childhood, a point of pride for the Republican candidate, who portrays himself as a troubled, violent youth who found God and turned his life around.

CNN sought out several people who knew Carson as a boy. None could recall any of the violent events Carson claims to have perpetrated as a youth, including an alleged incident where Carson nearly stabbed another boy, who Carson said Thursday was a “close relative.”

Instead, CNN found that many people who knew Carson – classmates and neighbors – remembered Carson as a shy, quiet kid that they could never see doing any of the things he has claimed.

“Nine friends, classmates and neighbors who grew up with Carson told CNN they have no memory of the anger or violence the candidate has described,” CNN said in it’s report.

“I don’t know nothing about that,” said one classmate of the stabbing incident. “It would have been all over the whole school.”

“I personally do not have knowledge of those incidents,” said another former classmate. “I wondered, ‘When did that happen?’”

“He got through his day trying not to be noticed,” one friend said. “I remember him having a pocket saver. He had thick glasses. He was skinny and unremarkable.”

If you can lie about something as innocuous as getting a scholarship to West Point, imagine what you can hide and cover-up when you’re sitting in the Oval Office.

Carson is currently leading in polls for the Republican nomination.