MANCHESTER, N.H. -- Ben Carson has an apology from Sen. Ted Cruz for his role in some Iowa phone call shenanigans the night of the caucus. Now he says he wants one from CNN.
After Saturday night’s Republican debate -- where Cruz once again apologized for his team calling Carson supporters and telling them the former neurosurgeon was suspending his campaign -- Carson now wants an apology from the news network that Cruz blames for the incident.
“Both need to apologize to the American people for distorting the process,” Carson told The Huffington Post.
ABC News brought up the incident at the debate on Saturday, asking Carson if Cruz should take further action following the drama on caucus night.
“I’m not going to use this opportunity to savage the reputation of Sen. Cruz,” Carson said. “I will say I was disappointed that members of his team thought so little of me that they thought after having hundreds, if not thousands of volunteers and college students who sacrificed their time and were dedicated to the cause -- one even died -- to think that I would just walk away 10 minutes before the caucus.”
After apologizing once again, Cruz blamed CNN, claiming the news network had inaccurately reported that Carson was suspending his campaign from “6:30 p.m. to 9:15,” and “didn’t correct that story until 9:15 that night.”
“My political team saw CNN’s report breaking news and they forwarded that news to our volunteers; it was being covered on live television,” the Texas senator said.
The news network released a statement before the event ended, claiming Cruz misstated CNN’s reporting during the debate.
"What Sen. Cruz said tonight in the debate is categorically false. CNN never corrected its reporting because CNN never had anything to correct," the statement said. "The Cruz campaign's actions the night of the Iowa caucuses had nothing to do with CNN's reporting. The fact that Senator Cruz continues to knowingly mislead the voters about this is astonishing."
Following the debate, Carson acknowledged that he had seen the statement and a tweet from CNN discounting Cruz's claim.
“I’ve seen the time stamped on them. So yeah, I know the information was released immediately within a minute of the time the first tweet came out,” Carson explained. “If Sen. Cruz didn’t receive that information, maybe his team isn’t transmitting the appropriate information to him.”
Carson said he forgives the Texas senator, but echoed that the controversy exemplifies "Washington ethics," something he also stated during the debate.
“Washington ethics basically says, if it’s legal, you do what you need to do in order to win,” Carson said. “That’s not my ethics. My ethics is, you do what’s right.”