Ben Carson loses top staffers from presidential campaign

Several top staffers on Dr. Ben Carson’s presidential campaign — including his campaign manager and communications director — have resigned their positions, marking a chaotic end of the year for Mr. Carson and his one-time soaring campaign to win the 2016 GOP nomination and the White House.

Doug Watts, the communications director, said in a statement Thursday that he and campaign manager Barry Bennett have resigned “effective immediately.”

“We respect the candidate and we have enjoyed helping him go from far back in the field to top-tier status,” Mr. Watts said.

Multiple reports said the departing campaign aides clashed with Mr. Carson’s influential and outspoken business manager, Armstrong Williams.

“For the past seven weeks, I’ve been doing nothing but putting out Armstrong Williams-started fires,” Mr. Bennett told the Reuters news agency.

In an appearance on CNN late Wednesday, Mr. Williams defended his work, and said the changes will allow his candidate to take a more forceful profile as the first test votes in Iowa and New Hampshire approach.

“Right now, they’re upset and they need a scapegoat, and I’m the scapegoat,” Mr. Williams, an entrepreneur and longtime columnist for The Washington Times, told Reuters.

It was later revealed that deputy campaign manager Lisa Coen has also left the campaign. She told the Des Moines Register, which first reported the resignations, that she was “deeply concerned” about the campaign’s ability to move forward without Mr. Bennett and Mr. Watts and said she wishes Mr. Carson “all the best going forward.”

Despite the upheaval, Mr. Carson, a soft-spoken retired neurosurgeon who has never run for public office, has continued to demonstrate an ability to bring in money. Mr. Watts pointed out that the campaign raised about $23 million in the final three months of the year and has surpassed 1 million contributions with more than 600,000 unique donors since March.

“We are proud of our efforts for Dr. Carson and we wish him and his campaign the best of luck,” Mr. Watts said.

Later Thursday, the Carson campaign announced that retired U.S. Army Major Gen. Bob Dees will serve as campaign chairman and Ed Brookover, who had been a senior strategist, will serve as campaign manager.

In a statement, Mr. Carson commended Mr. Bennett and Mr. Watts “for their efforts to help me share my vision for America.”

Mr. Carson, who briefly challenged Donald Trump atop Republican primary polls this fall, has failed to sustain his earlier momentum amid a series of campaign-trail gaffes.

“As we enter a new phase of the campaign cycle, it is necessary to invigorate my campaign with a strategy that more aggressively shares my vision and worldview with the American people,” Mr. Carson said.

During a Wednesday appearance on Fox News, Mr. Carson had said changes to the campaign were forthcoming.

“There will be some changes made so that the campaign is more consistent with me, with the way that I am,” Mr. Carson said on “On the Record with Greta Van Susteren.”

“Which is not … confrontational and, you know, attacking other people, but who does put out the truth and is transparent, and is reasonable to people,” he said.

After picking up some momentum in the early state of Iowa earlier in the year, the retired doctor has slipped in recent polling as the terrorist attacks in Paris and San Bernardino spurred a renewed interest in national security issues. He’s in fourth place nationally and in Iowa and in seventh place in New Hampshire in the latest RealClearPolitics averages.

But Mr. Carson also said during the Fox News appearance he needs people to understand that “toughness is not dictated by how loudly you say something.”

“Toughness is dictated by what you have achieved in your life,” he said. “Just as an example: the highest honor that a university gives out is an honorary doctorate degree. Now, they don’t give those to weak people or people who are not people of accomplishment,” adding that he has been given 67 such degrees.