THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT FOR 'THIS WEEK' ON JANUARY 3, 2016 and it will be updated.
MARTHA RADDATZ: And let’s bring in Ben Carson, joining me now exclusively from Florida.
Dr. Carson, happy new year, but I want to get right to the question.
BEN CARSON (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Thank you.
RADDATZ: You have less than a month before the Iowa caucuses. You have lost a lot of your top aides. What happened?
CARSON: Well, first of all, whenever you have something that is not working the way you want it to, you have a few choices. You can double down on it; you can ignore it; or you can analyze it and make appropriate changes.
You know, we have had very good people. They’ve had very good ideas, and no one predicted that we would even be in the hunt. And, you know, a novice in this area with no background, no campaign, no funding mechanism. So it really is quite spectacular, what we were able to do.
But the fact of the matter is now we’re in a different ball game and we need the ability to execute and not just to have good ideas. So, you know, --
RADDATZ: Were you about to fire those aides, Dr. Carson?
CARSON: Well, I did a deep dive and, you know, one of the things that I learned in my many years in corporate America is that you have to have the ability to execute a plan. And we didn’t really have that. So I brought in someone, General Bob Dees, who has a lot of experience with execution. And there were some that decided, under those circumstances, it would be too difficult for them to work. And that’s OK. We still --
RADDATZ: But -- but were you going to fire --
CARSON: -- appreciate them. We’re not --
RADDATZ: -- Barry Bennett, the campaign manager? Were you about to fire Barry Bennett, the campaign manager, and your communications director? That’s a simple question.
CARSON: I was going -- I was going to make some very substantial changes and Mr. Bennett decided that he could not live with those changes, and that’s OK. Doesn’t diminish anything that he’s done. I think he’s done a fantastic job.
RADDATZ: One of the things Barry Bennett said to the Associated Press about your campaign, you said you have to surround yourself with good people, and he has not demonstrated he can do that.
And you, in an op-ed from March, said that wisdom is every bit as important as knowledge, and perhaps an even more important qualification for the job of president, being able to choose trusted and capable thought leaders.
Shouldn’t people now question whether you can choose good advisors if your own campaign manager is saying you haven’t shown you can?
CARSON: Well, I think people should watch very carefully and see if in fact that is exactly what we have done. Again, when things are not working the way you want them to, you analyze them and you make the appropriate changes in order to be able to accomplish your goals.
I think that will be come very, very apparent within the next few weeks.
RADDATZ: Your campaign described this as an enhancement. What needed enhancement? What was missing? What were they doing that you did not like? Specifics.
CARSON: Well, it was -- it was very difficult to execute plans. For instance, getting our policies out. You know, we talk and talk and talk but they don’t seem to get out, and I want them out. I want people to be able to analyze them and talk about them.
I think that was a huge thing. And also a culture -- I want a culture of openness, not a culture of control. And there were a lot of people saying, you know, we have these great ideas, we want to do these things, but we can’t get an answer, we can’t get a response.
And again, not throwing anybody under the bus, but just saying that those are things that really don’t work well for a campaign. And --
RADDATZ: And what about Armstrong Williams, Mr. Carson? What about Armstrong Williams? Some say he is the root of the problem, your confidant.
CARSON: You know, like anybody, he’s made some bad judgments. There’s no question about it. But, you know, he’s a friend. I think he’s a valuable individual. But we can’t have people working at cross purposes, and that’s one of the things that has to be fixed and is being fixed and is fixed, in fact, at this point.
RADDATZ: So Armstrong Williams will continue to advise you.
I want to move on to some of the headlines this morning. Saudi Arabia has put to death a prominent Shiite cleric in a mass execution. Iran’s Supreme Leader says there will be divine revenge.
What is your reaction to what Saudi Arabia has done?
CARSON: Well, you know, Saudi -- the Saudis have been one of our strongest allies in the Middle East, and I think it’s unfortunate that we put them in the position that we have by showing the support to Iran that we have with this foolish deal. And, you know, there’s no reason for the Saudis to believe that we’re really on their side when we do things like that. And it won’t be surprising if they’re not looking to have a nuclear program soon, and everybody else in the Middle East also.
RADDATZ: But let’s get back to the issue of the mass execution --
CARSON: We have to look at the consequences of what we’re doing.
RADDATZ: Look at this execution of this Shiite cleric. This Shiite -- this Shiite --
CARSON: I don’t (INAUDIBLE).
RADDATZ: -- had criticized the monarchy in Bahrain for suppressing protest during the Arab Spring, and he was executed.
CARSON: No, I don’t, I don’t condone by any stretch of the imagination. Of course we don’t condone that kind of thing. But I’m just saying we need to stop doing silly things that promote these kinds of activities; that’s what I’m saying.
RADDATZ: OK, and the Islamic militant group in Somalia, al Shabaab, released a recruitment video which shows footage of Donald Trump proposing that Muslims should be temporarily barred from entering the United States. Would you try to counter that image of the U.S.? You early on said you would question whether or a Muslim should be president.
CARSON: I question whether a Muslim who wants Sharia law can be a president. It’s not consistent with our Constitution. There’s no backing away from that. And the fact of the matter is, political correctness will destroy us if we don’t wake up. And we need to expose things, like the things that came out during the Holy Land Foundation trial, where they said that foolishness of Americans and their political correctness will help us to be able to accomplish civilization jihad.
We’ve got to be smart. This is not a traditional war where you have a battle group here and a battle group there and they’re fighting each other. And we have to understand how they’re going to be attacking, and we have to anticipate -- we have to know that they’re going to be shifting over to Libya right now, which is a huge problem for us. A lot of oil there, strategic location, you grow across the water, northern, and you’re into Southern Europe. South Sudan, Chad, you know, Niger, you know, a tremendous opportunity for them. We need to be undermining their possibilities of establishing a caliphate there right now. Let’s not wait until they do it.
RADDATZ: Should Donald Trump watch what he say? So he’ll stay out of those recruiting videos?
CARSON: We should all -- we should all be careful about what we say, but the fact of the matter is, let’s not get so concerned about how offended our enemies are. And let’s pay a whole lot more attention to who we are and how do we protect our people here in the United States.
RADDATZ: Thanks very much for joining us, Dr. Carson. Good to see you.
CARSON: Always good to see you. Thank you.
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