“I agree that the woman is the victim,” Carson told CNN’s Erin Burnett on Wednesday evening. “She’s traumatized emotionally and in many other ways, and that’s problematic. In terms of who should be punished, that woman has already been punished. If it has become illegal, then obviously the person performing the abortion is the person who is breaking the law.”

But presented with Trump’s blatant flip-flop on Wednesday afternoon, Carson made excuses for the candidate.

“Well, bear in mind, I don’t believe that he was warned that that question was coming, and I don’t think he really had a chance to really think about it,” Carson said. Trump’s refusal to equivocate on the question served as just more proof that he is not a typical politician, Carson said. If he was, he would have known to give an answer that’s “not definitive.”

“He hasn’t really learned that because he’s not a politician,” Carson continued. “But he has now had time to come back and think about it and to talk with his people about it and come up with a more rational and informed type of answer.”