Carson asks for Katty Kay's mic to be turned off during heated exchange

Ben Carson on Friday asked for a "Morning Joe" panelist’s mic to be turned off after questions over Donald Trump’s alleged sexual harassment became combative.

The incident started after Carson implied that allegations of sexual assault against Donald Trump had been fabricated for political purposes. But the retired neurosurgeon refused to say whether or not he actually thought Trump’s accusers were lying.


Then the regular Trump surrogate added that “it doesn't matter whether they're lying or not” because the stakes of the presidential election are too big for voters to concern themselves whether Trump actually committed sexual assault.

“I want to push you on this allegations of sexual abuse because you seem to [be] suggesting this morning in this interview with your description of the first-class cabin and in previous interviews that these women are lying,” MSNBC “Morning Joe” panelist Katty Kay said to Carson on Friday. “The real reason women who have been sexually abused don't come forward to talk about their stories is precisely this: that all too often, they're accused of being liars. Are you saying these women are lying?”

“That's your characterization because you need to characterize it that way to try to make me the bad guy,” Carson replied.

That statement from the former GOP presidential candidate set off an avalanche of crosstalk from Kay, “Morning Joe” host Joe Scarborough and Carson himself, who repeatedly said “stop, stop, stop,” as Kay and Scarborough talked over one another to force an answer from the Trump supporter. Carson finally asked, “Hey, can you turn her microphone off, please? Turn her microphone off so I can talk.”

“No,” Scarborough replied, finally cutting through the conversation. “It’s a simple question. Yes or no, do you believe these women are lying or not. Nobody’s trying to paint you as a bad guy. We just want an answer. Straight talk.”

“Listen, it doesn't matter whether they're lying or not,” Carson said, wagging his finger as he spoke after another exasperated interjection from Kay. “What matters is that the train is going off the cliff. We're taking our eye off of that and getting involved in other issues. It can be taken care of later.”

Carson said he would “love us to bring back our Judeo-Christian values” but added that any return to those teachings should occur “at a time other than a political election.”

“It's like hitting against a brick wall. Getting people and particularly people in the news media to understand how much trouble we're in. Look at what's happening to the future of our children,” Carson said. “It's like you need to shake people and say, look, folks, we’ve got to deal with this. These are not Republican or Democrat issues. This is America we're talking about. Get it through your thick skulls.”