President Donald Trump will honor Dr. Ben Carson with the Presidential Medal of Freedom in an upcoming ceremony.
“Congratulations Ben. He didn’t know this. He didn’t know it. I hope he’s happy,” Trump said he announced the Honor at the American Cornerstone Institute’s Founders’ Dinner on Saturday, Fox News reported.
Carson served as secretary of Housing and Urban Development during Trump’s first term as president.
Carson is a former neurosurgeon and founded the ACI, which stands for American Cornerstone Institute.
According to the organization’s mission statement, it is “guided by our cornerstones of faith, liberty, community, and life, we will strengthen the bonds that hold our country together by promoting conservative, commonsense solutions to the issues facing our society.@
Carson was once a political adversary of Trump’s having vied for the presidency during Trump’s first run for the job.
Carson dropped out of the race and backed Trump in 2016.
Carson announced earlier this month he was endorsing U.S. Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., for re-election with a post on X.
He said Graham “has been a steadfast conservative leader for South Carolina and our nation and I’m pleased to endorse him for re-election.”
Carson spoke Sunday at the memorial service for slain conservative activist Charlie Kirk in Arizona.
During his speech, Carson criticized an unnamed politician for calling Kirk “ignorant” because he did not attain a college degree, per USA Today.
He said he saw Charlie Kirk “run circles” around others who had higher levels of education than he did.
“I wonder if that political figure realizes that most of learning in life comes outside the classroom,” Carson said.
Carson thanked Kirk “for his sacrifice, because much fruit is going to be realized.”
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