Carlson Addresses "Malicious Stories" Reported About Him

Carlson Addresses "Malicious Stories" Reported About Him

Don Carlson has responded to what he said have been "malicious" stories -- that were reported by Channel 12.

Carlson, who is running in the special election for the first Congressional District in Rhode Island, released the statement on Friday afternoon. 

Congressman David Cicilline announced earlier this year that he was stepping down from his seat in Congress to take over the position as the head of the Rhode Island Foundation and collect a salary of $650,000 for the group dedicated to supporting those in

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Carlson on Record

Carlson on Friday released the following: 

“Over the last week a lot of rumors have been circulating about me, mostly by political operatives, some of which have been picked up by Channel 12. That’s the state of politics today, it’s a nasty business. But it doesn’t have to be that way. We can resist the temptation to sensationalize every human interaction. And I thought I’d speak to you today, directly about the facts, toward that end. 

Back in 2019, I was working at a college. I was helping one graduating senior with his post-college career plans. He had never been my student and I had never supervised him at all, but we shared a lot of common interests in renewable energy and sustainable business and entrepreneurship. In fact, we came up with one plan to start a geothermal company on the West Coast after he graduated, and I offered him $5,000 in seed capital if he decided to go in that direction. He wound up not doing that, and we never followed through. But we did talk about it. We also had an awkward conversation one time, where he was describing a dating website to me and I somehow misinterpreted the description as a suggestion of a different relationship after graduation. I was wrong about that. He gently corrected me and I apologized profusely. He accepted my apology and said nothing had changed about our friendship, and that meant a lot to me. 

The bottom line is that I never had any romantic relationship with that man or with any student present or former at any institution to which I’ve been affiliated and no cash changed hands. And that’s all that happened. However, another student who wasn’t part of the conversation somehow got wind of parts of it and put their own assumptions in and took a report to the Dean. I’ve never seen that report and I’ve never known what was in it. I’ve never had the chance to respond or tell my side of the story until now. 

Malicious stories spread with amazing speed and vindictiveness, especially when they’re about gay and lesbian politicians. But we can fight back against that. We can resist that temptation and we can fight back against gossip and rumors against politicians of all kinds and against all people in public and private life. Now, I’d like to get back to the issues that matter so much to the people of this state we love. Thanks very much for listening.”

On Friday afternoon, Channel 12's Ted Nesi posted to "X" (formerly known as Twitter) that Carlson in his statement "confirmed" he broached a romantic relationship with a student.

Generally, media outlets do not publish "malicious" pieces based on unnamed sources days before elections. 

The candidates have had months to get issues out -- and allegations about their opponents.