I thought I had said my piece on Ben Carson and Mannatech, but now he’s claiming “another campaign” is using National Review to attack him on this issue.
No campaign contacted me about Carson’s work for Mannatech. I first heard about Carson doing endorsements for a supplement company in November of last year. My podcast co-host Mickey White had heard about Ben Carson and his endorsement of dietary supplements secondhand from an individual at a nonprofit fundraising event in Richmond, Va. A bit of Googling revealed Carson’s video for the company:
I contacted the editors about it in early December, researched and contacted the company throughout the month — they were not exactly prompt about returning calls — and contacted Ben Carson’s business manager Armstrong Williams on December 30. I interviewed Williams January 5; the story ran January 12.
(This piece has been edited since initial publication.)