Donald Trump’s Twitter is stirring up controversy once again.
The New York real estate mogul sent a clarifying tweet Thursday afternoon, saying that an intern was responsible for a retweet that insinuated Iowans had brain issues after a new Quinnipiac poll of likely Republican voters found Ben Carson had overtaken Trump in the Hawkeye State.
The initial retweet that raised eyebrows on Thursday morning read: "@mygreenhippo #BenCarson is now leading in the #polls in #Iowa. Too much #Monsanto in the #corn creates issues in the brain? #Trump #GOP"
Just a few hours later, in a rare move, Trump returned to the social media platrform to clarify the chain of events and make sure to explain he has nothing but love for Iowa caucus goers:
Unlike most on Twitter who clearly display that retweets are not endorsements, Trump told reporters in Dubuque, Iowa a few months ago: “I retweet for a reason,” causing many to believe that his RTs to his millions of followers are extensions of things that he himself supports or believes.
This is not the first instance that an intern has been blamed for controversial Twitter activity on Trump’s feed. In April of this year Trump’s account retweeted a questionable comment about Hillary Clinton that was later deleted. A rep at the time blamed “one of the 10 staff members” that handle Trump’s social media accounts.
The GOP frontrunner suffered a blow on Thursday when the results of a Quinnipiac poll done in Iowa showed him 8 points behind Dr. Ben Carson, who clocked in at 28% in the poll. Trump and Carson have been close in the polls the past few weeks, but Trump has always had the upper hand until now
