Armstrong Williams: The Politico Story Is an ‘Outright Lie’

RUSH TRANSCRIPT:

MITCHELL: “In talking to you, I’m sensing a different approach than what he said to Chris Jansing on Saturday night and on the Sunday shows, where he thought that he was being treated unfairly by the mainstream media. You’re saying it’s part of the process. Are we going to hear something different from him tomorrow night in Milwaukee at the Republican debate? Is he going to acknowledge that this comes with the territory? In fact, he’s making a lot of money off it because his supporters are certainly rallying around him as he goes through this.”

WILLIAMS: “I don’t want you to think Dr. Carson judges success by the fact that he may have raised $4 million or the fact that his poll numbers are going up. Dr. Carson, the reason why he was on CNN last Friday is because he cares about his credibility, he cares about these accusations because in his mind American people have drafted him and he wants to always be transparent and reassure them he is the man he’s always purported himself as being. While the other things are wonderful and sound good to him, his good name, which he’s worked so hard for, is more valuable than anything. Yes, Dr. Carson does acknowledge as recent as within the last 12 hours the fact that he’s got to adjust himself to the scrutiny and not all the media is up to no good when they pursue stories. Some are legitimate but when you take a story like Politico which is absolutely an outright lie saying his campaign admitted that Dr. Carson fabricated this story about west point, then you have to step back and say the media is also under a microscope. Make sure when you pursue these allegations against Dr. Carson that you don’t do sloppy and shoddy journalism, because you have a responsibility for your own credibility, because not only is Dr. Carson under a microscope, so are the mainstream media. So we all have a role to protect our institution because our integrity is always in question. So while we are very supportive of the media and their role in scrutinizing, they must also hold themselves to a higher standard also to make sure that what they are purporting and what they are reporting is accurate and that they have done their jobs.

MITCHELL: “Fair enough. Armstrong Williams, to be continued. We will all be watching tomorrow night, of course. Thank you for coming on today.”

WILLIAMS: “Thank you.”