In a hastily convened press conference at the National Press Club in Washington, D.C., Carson announced the topic would be “deceptive Iowa caucus tactics”. The additional details provided said “how a person conducts his life or campaign is an indication of who he is. In Matthew 7, Jesus Himself says that a tree-and people of faith-are known by their fruit, not just the words they say.”
Carson’s statement didn’t mention Cruz or Iowa. Instead, he worried about what type of image we might provide for children if we settle for anything less than “complete excellence” from politicians and proudly proclaimed that he didn’t take money from special interest groups. Reporters than had to tease out from him that the press conference was called in response to the Cruz’s campaign’s conduct and it took a number of questions for Carson to explicitly state that that was why he had called the press conference.
The retired neurosurgeon told reporters that Cruz had apologized to him and the Texas senator insisted that he didn’t know anything about what happened. Carson acknowledged that Cruz “could very well who could not known about it” but that said “it’s obviously that were people in his organization who not only knew about it but carried it out”.
In a response to a question from the Guardian about whether Cruz should fire the staffers responsible, Carson said:
Let me put this way: When there were things in my campaign I couldn’t agree with after doing an investigation, I made changes. I think that’s what a good leader does, if there are things going on that you don’t agree with you need to make to changes. If he agrees with it, he doesn’t need to make changes ... That would be hypocritical, wouldn’t it, to go against your beliefs?”
The retired neurosurgeon also
refused to comment on Donald Trump’s demands for a do-over as a result of Cruz’s tactics.
Carson didn’t take responsibility for the initial statement from his campaign that spurred the rumors that he might drop out. A campaign spokesman told CNN on Monday night that the doctor would be going home to Florida for some “fresh clothes.” Carson insisted to reporters Monday,
“I didn’t make that announcement. Don’t blame me.” He further dodged questions by about whether, like Cruz, he should be responsible for his campaign’s statement, saying defensively, “Is ok after three weeks on the road to go home get a fresh change of clothes? Does make someone an evil horrible person?” No other candidate put out such a statement on caucus night and almost all had previously scheduled events and obligations.
In response to a question about whether he might still drop out, Carson compared the election to the game of baseball. “You know one of the things that really represents America is baseball. Have you noticed in a baseball game, there are a nine innings and you don’t call the game after the first inning.”
