Ben Carson Will Visit Syrian Refugees in Jordan for ‘Firsthand Knowledge’

Republican presidential candidate Ben Carson announced that he would be traveling to Jordan to visit Syrian refugees on Friday.

The New York Times reports that the GOP front-runner hopes to bolster his foreign policy credentials with firsthand knowledge of the ongoing refugee crisis. Hence his surprise trip abroad, which he announced during an interview on Thanksgiving day.

“I find when you have firsthand knowledge of things as opposed to secondhand, it makes a much stronger impression,” said the candidate.

Carson recently caught flak for comments on foreign policy, including claims that his sources of information about the ongoing Syrian refugee crisis were “better” than President Barack Obama‘s intelligence. The neurosurgeon continued making similar claims earlier this week.

With his surprise trip to Jordan, however, it seems the Carson campaign has changed its tune.

“I want to hear some of their stories, I want to hear from some of the officials what their perspective is,” he said. “All of that is extraordinarily useful in terms of formulating an opinion of how to actually solve the problem.”

[h/t New York Times]
[Image via screengrab]

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