Leading Republican Presidential candidate Ben Carson let loose on the American media on Friday, in a clip that has now gone viral.

Carson was being badgered by journalists over an allegation published in Politico, which reported that he had admitted to falsely claiming he had received an offer for a prestigious West Point scholarship. In fact, Politico was forced to issue a retraction after it was revealed the story was false.

Carson had, in fact, been offered a scholarship but turned it down to pursue his dream of becoming a physician.

When journalists continued to hector him - with one directly implying Carson said he had received a scholarship - the normally mild-mannered candidate hit back.

"I never said I received a full scholarship... I never said — wait a minute, don’t lie!" he fired, cutting off the reporter's attempts to interrupt him. "I never said I received a full scholarship. Nowhere did I say that."

Carson, who is currently leading in the polls to be the GOP's presidential candidate, then went into attack mode, wondering out loud why liberal media outlets were nitpicking an obscure alleged comment he made while giving the current president a free pass on a whole raft of potential controversies.

"Politico, as you know, told a bold-faced lie," he said. "They have been called out on it by The Washington Post and The New York Times and I’m sure there will be several others who call them out on that. Because there are actually some people with integrity in your business."

"I do not remember this level of scrutiny for one President Barack Obama when he was running," he continued.

"In fact, I remember just the opposite. I remember people just – oh wait, we won’t talk about that. We won’t talk about that relationship," he added, noting the surprising lack of scrutiny Obama's relationships with several extremists, including preacher Jeremia Wright, had garnered.

"Why is his records sealed?" he went on to ask about the president's own academic records. "Why are you guys not interested in his record are sealed? Why are you not interested in that? Let me ask that. Can someone tell me why please?"

When asked how he thought the "scandal" over his alleged comments would effect his candidacy,  Carson was defiant.

"My prediction is that all of you guys trying to pile on is actually going to help me, because when I go out to these book signings and see all these thousands of people they say 'Don't let the media get you down'... They understand that this is a witch hunt."

Watch longer, edited version: