Ben Carson early Wednesday defended linking Hillary Clinton Hillary Diane Rodham ClintonBiden leads Trump by 36 points nationally among Latinos: poll Democratic super PAC to hit Trump in battleground states over coronavirus deaths Battle lines drawn on precedent in Supreme Court fight MORE to Lucifer, saying one of the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee's college mentors admired him.

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"Recognize that this is a very famous book, "Rules for Radicals," and on the dedication page, [author Saul Alinsky] acknowledged Lucifer in an admiring way, saying he's the original radical who gained his own kingdom," Carson said.

"We all have people who are our mentors. We all have people who we admire. As a college student at Wellesley, she was on a first-name basis with Saul Alinsky. ... They were very close," Carson said.

Carson's remarks follow a speech he made at the Republican National Convention Tuesday night, during which he linked Clinton and Alinsky.

"Now, one of the things that I have learned about Hillary Clinton is that one of her heroes, her mentors, was Saul Alinsky. And her senior thesis was about Saul Alinsky. This was someone she greatly admired, and let me tell you something about Saul Alinsky," Carson said.

"He wrote a book called 'Rules for Radicals.' It acknowledges Lucifer, the original radical who gained his own kingdom," he said. "Now think about that. This is our nation, where our founding document, the Declaration of Independence, talks about certain inalienable rights that come from our creator, a nation where our Pledge of Allegiance says we are ‘One nation under God.’ This is a nation where every coin in our pockets and every bill in our wallet says, ‘In God We Trust.’ So are we willing to elect someone as president who has as their role model somebody who acknowledges Lucifer? Think about that."