Ben Carson Aides Resign Over Conflict with Closeted Adviser

As noted in a prior post, the already troubled Ben Carson campaign is being wracked by rumors about Carson friend and non-titled adviser Armstrong Williams who has faced male-on-male sexual harassment allegations.  Now, campaign manager Barry Bennett and communications director Doug Watts have resigned due to apparent conflict with Williams, a long time Carson friend and confident.  Talking Points Memo looks at the development and one can only wonder when Carson opponents try to fan the flames over Williams.  Here are highlights:

Two top aides to Republican presidential candidate Ben Carson resigned from the campaign and predicted a wave of departures to come Thursday, casting the troubled campaign into uncertainty with just a month until the Iowa caucuses.

Campaign manager Barry Bennett and communications director Doug Watts resigned over conflict with Armstrong Williams, a Carson adviser the campaign has said has no official role, according to the Des Moines Register.

The Register later reported Deputy Campaign Manager Lisa Coen had also left the campaign.
Days before Christmas, Armstrong and Williams invited The Washington Post and Associated Press for a sit-down at the candidate's Maryland home about upcoming staffing changes to the campaign – without Bennett's knowledge, the Post reported.

"I spent the holidays hearing every day that I had lost my job,” Bennett told the Post in an interview Thursday. “My relationship with Carson was always good and friendly but being campaign manager in that kind of situation, where outside advisers are in essence driving the campaign and setting up interviews and raising questions about everything, it’s not the right atmosphere.”

Bennett said he thought airing the campaign's dirty laundry to the press was a "stupid move," one that Williams pushed for.

On Thursday, Williams told the Post he heard the news of Bennett and Watts' departures on Twitter.
"There’s enough pain today, enough feelings that have been damaged in some ways," Williams said. "I’m already being blamed, as I knew I would be, but I would never criticize Barry and Doug."

The Post's Robert Costa reported the campaign was in "chaos" over the news.

I have long viewed Carson as a whack job and we can only hope that this is the beginning of the end of his campaign.

Larry Flynt Offers $1Million For Proof "Outing" Ben Carson's Top Advisor

Click image to enlarge

Just when you think that things in the GOP clown car cannot possibly get any more crazy, another shoe drops.  Now, adding the the circus atmosphere, porn magnate Larry Flynt has published an open letter - see the image above - accusing GOP idiot savant, Ben Carson of hypocrisy based on Carson's attacks on gays even as his top advisor, Armstrong Williams, may be gay and has a possible history of sexually harassing males.  Adding to the fun, Flynt has offered $1 Million to anyone who can provide proof that  Williams is a "predator" who harasses men.   Here are highlights from Hollywood Reporter:

In an open letter set to be published Monday in the Las Vegas Review-Journal, Larry Flynt is offering "between $50,000 and $1 million" to anyone with proof that a top adviser to Republican presidential candidate Dr. Ben Carson is guilty of sexual harassment.

"Dr. Carson, Heal Thyself!" the Hustler publisher begins in the paid ad, then goes on to describe a nearly 20-year-old lawsuit against Armstrong Williams, a conservative radio personality whom Carson has described as being part of a "package deal" should he be elected president. 

"Armstrong Williams, your brother in faith and the person you say you trust more than anyone else outside of your immediate family," Flynt writes, "settled a lawsuit out of court after affidavits provided allegations that he initiated unwanted sexual advances toward other men."

In 1998, Williams was accused by former personal trainer Stephen Gregory of more than 50 separate incidents of sexual harassment. In the filing, Gregory says that Williams repeatedly "kissed him on the mouth, grabbed his buttocks and genitals and climbed into bed with him on business trips."

When Gregory refused the advances, Gregory claimed in the suit, Williams retaliated by firing him. Gregory sought $200,000 in damages but ultimately settled with Williams out of court.

In his letter, Flynt accuses Carson of being "a hypocrite" for associating with Williams. "You have linked gays with bestiality and the North American Man/Boy Love Association. You have opposed same-sex marriage, accusing marriage equality advocates of 'directly attacking the relationship between God and his people,'" Flynt asserts (accurately). "Yet, you have partnered with an accused sexual predator."

Flynt says he will pay for "confirmable information" relating to the "curious relationship" between Williams and Gregory.

Flynt has a long history of offering hefty cash payouts to prove conservative politicians are guilty of unlawful, unsavory and hypocritical behavior. At the height of the Monica Lewinsky scandal, he offered $1 million for evidence that Bill Clinton's Republican foes had committed acts of adultery. In 2012, he put up a similar bounty for stories of "infidelity, sexual impropriety or corruption” involving members of Congress.

Carson's campaign did not respond to a request for comment.