HUD spokesman refuses to say Ben Carson told the truth at congressional testimony
Housing and Urban Development Secretary Ben Carson got hammered by Senate Democrats on Thursday — and now his own agency won’t even vouch for the accuracy of his congressional testimony.
The Guardian reports that Carson earlier this week told Congress that HUD needed to order a $31,000 dining room set for his personal office because the older furniture was in supposedly decrepit condition.
“People had been stuck by nails, a chair had collapsed with somebody sitting in it,” Carson said.
However, a review of agency emails by the Guardian showed that no one had complained about getting stuck by nails — and only one staffer had commented on loose chairs that could become dangerous.
When asked by the Guardian if Carson’s testimony was accurate, HUD spokesman Jereon Brown simply said, “We’ll decline to comment.”
When asked if this meant that he couldn’t say that Carson had told Congress the truth this week, Brown replied, “We’re declining comment to you on the testimony.”
Earlier this week, Carson also blamed his wife for ordering the $31,000 dining set, which he said he had nothing to do with — despite the fact that an email from an HUD staffer last year said both Carson and his wife had “picked out” the new furniture themselves.
