Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump argued that Dr. Ben Carson admits in his book “he’s got a pathological temper or temperament” and “you don’t cure that. That’s like…as an example, [a] child molester, you don’t cure these people. You don’t cure a child molester” and cast doubt on Carson’s story about attempting to stab someone in an interview broadcast on Thursday’s “Erin Burnett OutFront” on CNN.
Trump was asked if he believes Carson is being truthful about his past. He answered, “Well, I don’t know. First of all, I like him. I get along with him very well. I just don’t know. And don’t forget, this is in his book. I’m not bringing up anything that’s not in his book. And you know, when he says he went after his mother and wanted to hit her in the head with a hammer, that bothers me. I mean, that’s pretty bad. When he says he’s pathological, and he says that in the book, I don’t say that. And again, i’m not saying anything. I’m not saying anything, other than pathological is a very serious disease, and he said he’s pathological. Somebody said he has pathological disease. Other people said he said in the book, and I haven’t seen it, I know it’s in the book, that he’s got a pathological temper or temperament. That’s a big problem, because you don’t cure that. That’s like, you know, I could say, they’d say you don’t cure, as an example, [a] child molester, you don’t cure these people. You don’t cure a child molester. There’s no cure for it. Pathological, there’s no cure for that. Now, I didn’t say it. He said it in his book. So, when I hear somebody’s pathological, when somebody says, I went after my mother with — and he’s saying it about himself, with a hammer and hit her in the head, I say, whoa. I never did. You never did. I don’t know anybody that ever did, personally. But that’s a big statement. When he said he hit a friend of his in the face with a lock — with a padlock, right in the face, I say, whoa, that’s pretty bad. And when he said he stabbed somebody with a knife, but it hit a belt buckle, I know a lot about knives and belt buckles, belt buckles are not going to stop because they’re going to turn, they’re going to twist, they’re going — you know, they’re not solid, especially if somebody’s got a couple of extra couple of pounds on. You know, they move, there’s a lot of movement. So, the chances of somebody going like that [makes a stabbing motion], hitting a belt buckle where doesn’t slide off and go into the –.”
Anchor Erin Burnett then cut in to ask, “So, you’re not satisfied yet?” Trump answered, “Well, I just don’t know. But when somebody said that he’s pathological, you’ll have to ask him that question. Look, I hope it’s fine, because I think it would be a shame. But think of it, what he’s saying is these things happened. It would be nice if he said, ‘No, none of these things did happen.’ He’s saying, these things happened, and therefore, I have credibility. And what I’m saying is, I’d rather have them if they didn’t happen. I don’t want somebody that hit somebody in the face really hard with a padlock. I don’t want somebody that went after his mother with a hammer. I don’t want somebody, frankly — I didn’t read his book, but, according to the book, he said he’s pathological. That’s a very serious term.”
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