Dr. Ben Carson appeared on MSNBC's Morning Joe on Friday, during which he defended Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump in the wake of the most recent sexual assault allegations against him and accused the media of unfairly favoring Hillary Clinton.
During the heated interview, guest co-host Katty Kay first asked Carson, himself a former Republican presidential candidate, whether he thought the women were lying about their claims, pointing to his previous statements on the matter.
"That's your characterization because you need to characterize it that way to try to make me the bad guy," he said. "It doesn't matter whether they're lying or not. What matters is that the train is going off the cliff. We're taking our eye off of that. We're getting involved in other issues that can be taken care of later."
Shortly after the release of an 11-year-old hot-mic tape of Trump saying lewd things about women, the businessman-turned-politician was accused of sexual misconduct by PEOPLE writer Natasha Stoynoff, and The New York Times previously reported similar experiences of two other women.
Trump has strongly denied these claims as "totally and absolutely false" and has promised to release proof that his accusers fabricated their stories.
Later in the Morning Joe segment, host Joe Scarborough called Carson out on his comments about upholding Judeo-Christian values "at a time other than a political election," at which point the neurosurgeon accused the media of taking his words out of context.
"Why is it that you people in the media like to take something that someone said and then try to re-characterize it as something else so that you can then come back and say, 'This is what it said'? Why not just listen to what I'm telling you?" he asked.
In a piece published in the Independent Journal Review last week, Carson strongly condemned Trump's "lewd" comments about women and referred to the GOP nominee's behavior as "unacceptable".
However, he emphasized that Trump was still a better alternative to the Democratic nominee, as progressives and the political elites pose a greater threat.
"Those of us who do not want to see America fundamentally devolve into something worse must be wise enough to recognize the scheme that is being played out here," Carson opined. "We must demand not only that the issues be discussed but also that we make our decisions based on issues and not on personalities or decade old statements and behavior by Hillary Clinton or Donald Trump."
According to Yahoo News, Carson also told journalists that Trump prayed with televangelist James Robison, who founded LIFE Outreach International, a Christian relief organization, and that Trump had "absolutely" asked for forgiveness in those prayers and "is coming ever closer to the Lord."
"I'm a Christian voter and I'm not OK with it, but I can look at the bigger picture, and I think a lot of other Christians can look at the bigger picture too," Carson said, noting later, "I can't defend the video, but I can certainly continue to support him because I think what he represents is far superior to what Hillary represents."
