Former GOP candidate Ben Carson will endorse Donald Trump on Friday at an event in Florida, one day after the neurosurgeon met with the real-estate tycoon in person, according to sources close to Mr. Carson.
The formal endorsement has been scheduled for Friday at an event at Mr. Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate in Palm Beach, a source close to Mr. Carson confirmed.
During Thursday night’s Republican presidential debate, Mr. Trump said Mr. Carson was going to endorse him Friday, trumpeting Mr. Carson’s expertise on education.
Mr. Carson would only say Thursday that he was “leaning” toward endorsing Mr. Trump, saying that behind the scenes the billionaire is a thinking man and reasonable.
“There are two Donald Trumps,” Mr. Carson said John Gibson’s show on Fox News Radio. “There’s the Donald Trump that you see on television and who gets out in front of big audiences, and there’s the Donald Trump behind the scenes. They’re not the same person.”
“One’s very much and entertainer, and one is actually a thinking individual,” he continued. “That one is someone you can reason with very easily and who is actually very comfortable talking about issues and recognizing that he doesn’t have all the answers. It’s a very different one — it’s a night and day difference.”
Mr. Carson, a retired neurosurgeon, was among the outsider candidates that briefly surged in the GOP race. Some of his strongest support came from evangelical voters.
The other candidate still in the race who is popular with evangelical voters, Texas Sen. Ted Cruz, has had a rocky relationship with Mr. Carson.
Mr. Cruz was accused of using dirty tricks when, during the Iowa caucuses, his campaign staff told Carson voters that he planned to drop out of the race and urged them to switch their vote.
That incident eclipsed any bad blood between Mr. Carson and Mr. Trump, who once dismissed the famous surgeon as a “pretty good doctor” and accused him of making up parts of his inspirational autobiography.
That incident eclipsed any bad blood between Mr. Carson and Mr. Trump, who once dismissed the famous surgeon as a “pretty good doctor” and accused him of making up parts of his inspirational autobiography.
In the radio interview, Mr. Carson also warned the Republican Party establishment against tying to manipulate the process and use a contested convention to pick deny Mr. Trump the nomination.
That would fracture the party and ultimately handing the White House to the Democrats, he said, alluding to the army of new voters Mr. Trump has attracted.
“They just need to get out of the way and let the process play out and. This is a decision for the people,” said Mr. Carson. “The question is can the Republican Party accommodate the new group of people that are coming in because large groups of people are coming in who weren’t there before.”
• S.A. Miller can be reached at smiller@washingtontimes.com.
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