Republican presidential candidate Ben Carson on Thursday pushed back against the notion that his close friend, business partner and top outside adviser, broadcasting mogul Armstrong Williams, speaks on his behalf.
“Armstrong is an independent agent,” Carson said at a press conference in Alabama on Thursday. “He happens to be a friend of mine. He has nothing to do with the campaign. Nothing formal.”
{mosads}Earlier this week, The New York Times quoted Williams in an unflattering piece about Carson’s advisers being frustrated with his grasp of foreign policy.
Asked about the story and Williams’s quotes, Carson responded: “Armstrong can comment on his own behalf. He does not speak for the campaign at all. He does not speak for me, he speaks for himself.”
Williams is not technically with the campaign. He has vast radio and TV broadcasting interests that would complicate his being a part of any political campaign.
However, he and Carson have been close friends for years. They stay at each others houses, watch football together, have been business partners and talk politics and political strategy, and Williams coordinates with reporters seeking interviews with the candidate.
Williams also acts as a surrogate for Carson on television. He has recently defended Carson against reports questioning his past, and sought to clarify comments Carson has made on foreign policy.
Reached by phone Thursday, Williams said he spoke with Carson moments after the remarks in Alabama and that Carson explained that he was merely making the point that he speaks for himself and is the ultimate authority on where he stands on the issues.
Williams said he wasn’t hurt or surprised by the remarks, adding that there’s no rift between himself and Carson or the official campaign.
“I speak when something needs to be clarified,” Williams said. “There’s no issue here.”
Indeed, when asked Thursday who edited his op-ed on national security that ran in The Washington Post, Carson said he sent it to Williams, asking for cuts because the piece was running too long.
Carson said the campaign was also aware that the op-ed was forthcoming.
Still, Williams said he’d be fine reining in his roll as surrogate, saying he’d like to see the campaign bring on more spokespeople to act as public faces for Carson.
“I talk about his biography and those kinds of issues because I’ve know him for so long, and not everyone knows everything about these issues or the experience he has as well as I do,” Williams said.
“I’m comfortable being a part of that, but I think they need some more surrogates and I’ve told them that.”