Throughout Ben Carson’s doomed presidential campaign, it became increasingly clear that a number of the candidate’s advisers were using the campaign’s fundraising in order to substantially enrich themselves, leading TPM’s Josh Marshall to describe the whole campaign as one big “direct mail scam.”
In an interview with Detroit talk radio host Frank Beckmann yesterday, Carson admitted that there were “a number of problems” with the management of his campaign and that some of his advisers “began to take advantage” of the money his candidacy was attracting.
“There were a number of problems,” Carson told Beckmann. “People that were hired to run the campaign were not people that I knew, but I was told that they were really good people. And, you know, what they were were political people looking for political jobs. And when they saw that my name was attracting a lot of money they, you know, began to take advantage of that situation.”
“Let me tell you,” he added, “if I were ever to do it again, I would obviously have a very different approach in terms of the kinds of people that you brought in to do things for you. But, you know, you live and you learn.”
Carson chalked up the “live and learn” campaign mistakes to the fact that he was a “citizen statesman” rather than a “politician.”
In reality, several news outlets covered the campaign’s financial woes before the candidate took any action.
Beckmann then asked Carson if he was expecting to get a position in the administration of Donald Trump, whom he has endorsed, if Trump wins the presidency.
“I really am not looking for a title or position,” Carson responded, “but I certainly could see myself continuing to talk with him and with various people in the administration about solutions and helping to connect them with a lot of the people that I have gotten to know who really are extremely fine Americans and have a lot of good policy ideas.”
