Carson says he did try to stab child as boy

Republican US presidential candidate Ben Carson has taken the unusual step of insisting he tried to stab a child when he was younger — after CNN cast doubt on his claims of a violent past.

Capping off a memorable week — he is standing by his belief to store grain that Egypt’s great pyramids were built by the biblical figure Joseph — the Yale-educated brain surgeon said the names of two people he has previously identified as victims of his childhood violence are “fictitious”, but that the violence did occur.

“I don’t like to generally bring them in,” Carson said to reporters. “The names I used for instance are fictitious names because I don’t want to bring people into something like this because I know what you guys do to their lives.”

In a later interview with Fox News’ Megyn Kelly, he said the person he tried to stab during his youth was a “close relative”, adding: “I didn’t want to put their lives under the spotlight.”

Carson had previously stated the stabbing victim was a friend.

CNN has led a media probe into his claims that he attacked a boy named Bob with a knife and hit another child named Jerry with a lock.

Carson said he had a bad temper in his youth and when he was 14 he tried to stab a boy but the blade was stopped by a belt buckle.

The media giant has cast doubt on the claims Carson made in his autobiography, where he alluded that the incidents show that he has demonstrated strength and character in his rise from an angry young man to a presidential candidate.

CNN told Carson they interviewed several people from his school and nobody could recall such incidents.

However, Carson hit back: “Why would anybody know about, you know, private incidents like that? That doesn’t make any sense.”

He later told another media outlet: “I would say to the people of America, do you think I’m a pathological liar like CNN does? Or do you think I’m an honest person?”

It capped off a bizarre week for Carson. He is standing by his belief that Egypt’s great pyramids were built by the biblical figure Joseph to store grain. Experts say it is accepted science that they were tombs for pharaohs.

Video posted online on Wednesday by Buzzfeed News show Carson explaining his theory 17 years ago at a Michigan college affiliated with his Seventh-day Adventist Church.

In the video, he says: “My own personal theory is that Joseph built the pyramids in order to store grain.”

He was referring to the Old Testament story of Joseph predicting famine and advising the pharaoh to store surplus food.

At a book signing on Thursday in Florida, he stood by his statement.

Calling the grain theory his “personal belief”, Carson said: “I happen to believe a lot of things that you might not believe because I believe in the Bible.”