good morning. i m carol costello. thank you so much for joining me. ben carson on the attack and animated. he calls the media sick and stupid for investigating his background. the kind of investigations that were done, you know, talking to the wrong people, not going to the junior high school where it occurred, but talking to other people. this is stupid. i mean, if the term media is no better than investigating than that, it s sick. a review, cnn found no one who can remember carson s bad temper when he was a boy. no one heard anything about carson attacking a friend with a knife. the wall street journal is questioning his story carson told about his time at yale. politico scrutinized his claim west point gave him a full scholarship. donald trump was tweeting the story was one of the many lies of ben carson. adding that, quote, the carson
this illness so publicly, why we ve allowed a loved one to go on stage and take a risk of you know, he could make a fool of himself onstage. but it s something he wanted to do and something we think is healthy for him. and it s been worth of risk, because he s done a great job. and he s still glenn campbell. he s trying to live his life as long as he can to its fullest. you can catch the film right here on cnn. that s tomorrow at 8:00 p.m. eastern. in our politics lead, he writes in his book about his acceptance to west point academy, but a scholarship offered. but now presidential candidate dr. ben carson is acknowledging he was never officially offered a psychologicscholarship. that story is next. bill have you seen my keys anywhere?
this story started with a report in politico that claimed carson s campaign had acknowledged, quote, fabricating the story. but the campaign is pushing back hard on any notion of fabrication. reporter: that s right, they re specifically pushing hard on that exact point, jake, this connection that politico makes in their story that this acknowledgement really is an admission in the story that he fabricated the story line. the campaign says that s not true, that he never claimed officially to have been accepted or applied to west point. but certainly ben carson has touted many times on the campaign trail the scholarship offer. it definitely is notable, especially given all the other questions about other claims carson has made about his past. tonight ben carson s past becoming a central topic in the campaign. i m not proud of the fact that i had these rage episodes. but i am proud of the fact that i was able to get over them. reporter: the retired
neurosurgeon facing mounting scrutiny over acts of violence as a child. it s a bunch of lies, attempting to say that i m lying about my history. i think it s pathetic. basically what the media does is they try to get you distracted. reporter: and carson is now 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 incidents. some of victims were members of my family. i will not let them be investigate myselfed aga e vid again by the media. 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 stabbing friend. this comes as a new cnn poll shows the two leading gop
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.