The New York Times asked Ben Carson about his West Point controversy today, and Carson told them he never actually applied for admission but had received an “informal” offer of an appointment to the school.

In an interview with The New York Times on Friday, Mr. Carson said: “I don’t remember all the specific details. Because I had done so extraordinarily well you know I was told that someone like me – they could get a scholarship to West Point. But I made it clear I was going to pursue a career in medicine.”

“It was, you know, an informal ‘with a record like yours we could easily get you a scholarship to West Point.’”

The problem for Carson, though, is that he has repeatedly stated, very specifically, that he had received a “scholarship offer” directly from West Point.

In his recent book, “You Have a Brain,” Mr. Carson described how he decided which college to attend: “I still had the scholarship offer from West Point as a result of my R.O.T.C. achievements.”

More recently, in a Facebook post in August responding to a question, he wrote that he had been “thrilled to get an offer from West Point.”

It’s pretty clear that Carson chose to frame this as “an offer from West Point” because it aided in his myth-building story of personal redemption and triumph.

Here’s video of Carson on the October 9, 2015 Charlie Rose show, stating unequivocally: “I was offered a full scholarship to West Point.”

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