A story published in Politico on November 6th claimed that Ben Carson’s campaign admitted to Carson fabricating a story that he was offered a West Point “scholarship.” The story has since been altered to reflect the fact that Carson’s campaign vehemently denied such an admission.
Carson hit back against the allegations in the Politico story written by Kyle Cheney, saying on ABC’s This Week: “You look at the political hit job this week. I mean- even some of you guys in the media called him out on that. It’s pretty bad.”
Now, a law school professor, Seth Barrett Tillman, has stepped forward to defend Carson. Writing a column that originally appeared on the New Reform Club, Tillman tells the story of how he was unofficially offered a place at West Point.
Tillman writes that he took the PSAT during tenth grade and that he invited colleges to send him their literature.
He then writes how he was contacted by West Point and invited to a conference for high school students interested in attending West Point.
Tillman went to the conference, where he was pulled aside by a major. Tillman wrote:
I was told that if I apply, I would get in. It was as simple as that. I had very good standardized scores and very good grades. When the major told me that I would get in if I applied, I believed him. I was told that West Point would find a Senator or Representative to nominate me, or I would come in with a number of students the academy could choose itself.
However, Tillman told the major that, after attending the conference, he had decided that West Point would not be for him. Tillman said that I was “sure to fail his programme” having “observed what the academy expected of its students athletically and otherwise.”
Tillman concludes that, by any “fair-minded description,” it was an “offer to attend West Point.” He then writes: “Surely, many, many other people received similar offers. I expect that large list also includes Ben Carson.”
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What do you think of the law professor’s story? Is Carson’s story that he was given an offer to attend West Point a true one?