lashing out, trying to redirect the fire at the media, blasting cnn's investigation which found no one from the candidate's past to corroborate the incident. >> some of the victims were members of my family. i understand that i will not let them be victimized again by the media. and if you choose to believe that i'm incapable of these acts, i guess that's kind of a compliment. >> reporter: sensing an opening, donald trump unleashing a series of tweets about his rival's background, writing, quote, the carson story is either a total fabrication or, if true, even worse, trying to hit mother over the head with a hammer or stabbing friend. this comes as a new cnn/orc poll shows the two leading gop contenders solidifying their top tier place in iowa. rubio and cruz are battling it out for third place. the rest of the field all trailing well behind in single digits. >> no national polls are going to determine who the next president of the united states is going to be.