Ben Carson knows his campaign 'didn't really seem to understand finances'

Just hours before his blowout loss in the Nevada caucuses Tuesday, Republican Ben Carson remained lighthearted when discussing his presidential campaign's problem with overspending. The retired neurosurgeon openly admitted in an interview on CNN that his campaign had some people, including a handful of now-resigned top advisers, who "didn't really seem to understand finances."

Carson then joked that maybe that overspending was intentional sabotage. "Maybe they were doing it on purpose," Carson said of his campaign's tendency last fall to burn through cash even as they were bringing in healthy fundraising sums.

Two of Carson's campaign aides resigned at the turn of the new year, citing tensions with another adviser. A couple weeks later, Carson's campaign finance chief, Dean Parker, also resigned after questions surfaced about his use of campaign money. Politico reports that Parker was earning a $20,000/month salary and had racked up at least $216,000 in expenses between July and September.

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Since the advisers' resignations, Carson's campaign has slowed spending. His campaign raised $3.8 million in January and, by Jan. 31, he still had $4.1 million on hand.