Political weapon?

National Review responds to Carson: We’re not a political weapon

By Hadas Gold

National Review editor Rich Lowry is pushing back against accusations from Ben Carson that rival campaigns are using the magazine as a political weapon.

"I admire Ben Carson, but he's completely wrong about this. Our writer, Jim Geraghty, heard about his connection to Mannatech independently late last year (when, by the way, other campaigns weren't paying much attention to Carson, let alone dropping oppo on him)" Lowry, also a POLITICO columnist, said in an email.

In an interview with "Breitbart News Daily" on Tuesday, Carson accused an unnamed rival campaign of planting the story of Carson's connection with the supplement company.

"Well they're concerned about me. That obviously comes from somebody else on that debate stage. That's a submarine that's sent by them," Carson said. "They're very concerned about me and they're using the National Review as their political tool. That's pretty obvious."

"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," Geraghty wrote in a post on Tuesday.