Dr. Ben Carson warned Friday that while he doesn’t plan on leaving the Republican Party, he doesn’t want to part of the “corruption” that would take place if powerful party leaders push to nominate someone other than the popular vote-getter in the various state caucuses and primaries.
“I have no intention to run as an independent, but I certainly don’t want to be part of corruption,” Carson said at a press event in Iowa.
Carson has been fading in the polls, making it less likely at this point that the GOP would have to broker a convention to avoid a Carson nomination. Still, Carson has threatened to leave the GOP after a report that party leaders were considering a brokered convention, once that would likely be aimed at denying Trump the nomination.
In a campaign statement, Carson threatened to leave the GOP and pressed that he “will not sit by and watch a theft” of the primary election by party elites.
“I would certainly hope that they don’t do such a thing,” Carson said when asked if he expected the party to “manipulate the convention.”
“I would hope that we would respect the will of the people … I think the party should not be doing anything that is deceptive and under the covers and that thwarts the will of the people,” he said.
Carson added that he “traditionally” does not trust the party as a whole, but hopes they could have “some better leadership” than in the past.
The comments come after the Washington Post reported Thursday evening that GOP leaders met Monday and discussed the possibility of a brokered convention, a conversation that included Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and Republican National Committee Chairman Reince Priebus.
