Ben Carson won’t commit to block HUD grants from going to Trump businesses
In a Thursday morning confirmation hearing, Democratic senators pressed Ben Carson on President-elect Donald Trump’s potential conflicts of interest with the agency he is seeking to lead.
Sens. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., and Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio, both asked Carson to guarantee that no Housing and Urban Development grants would go to businesses associated with the president-elect or his family.
Carson declined to promise that, saying he would act in the best interests of Americans and would not “play favorites.”
“If there happens to be an extraordinarily good program that’s working for millions of people, and it turns out that someone that you’re targeting is going to gain $10 from it, am I going to say, ‘No, the rest of you Americans can’t have it?’” Carson asked. “I think logic and common sense is the best way.”
Brown asked Carson if any HUD funds would go to Starrett City, a massive low-income housing unit in Brooklyn in part owned by Trump. More than 3,500 of Starrett City’s units have people in them receiving funds from the HUD assistance program, ABC News reported in December.
Carson said he hasn’t discussed that conflict with Trump but hopes that he and the Senate committee on housing would ”come up with a suggestion that might be acceptable to all sides.”
Trump announced Wednesday that he was handing over his family business to his sons, falling short of the blind trust standard ethics watchdogs say is necessary to avoid conflicts of interest. Among other things, the Trump Organization has investments in real estate properties across the globe.
Sen. Thom Tillis, R-N.C., criticized Warren’s line of questioning. “What matters the most is the benefit to the people that we are trying to serve,” Tillis said before speculating that “fake news” would blow the story out of proportion.
In the brief hearing, Carson said he believed the role of HUD should change dramatically to help people get off government assistance. But he committed to not yank current housing assistance programs before putting something else in place for people in need. “My goal is to get everybody into a decent position, 100 percent of Americans,” Carson said. He also got tripped up while responding to the grilling, saying it wasn’t his “intention to do anything to benefit any American.”
The agency has an annual budget of $32 billion, and Carson said it’s possible he would run the agency on a tighter budget.
Carson will most likely be confirmed for the job when the full Senate votes, as no Republicans have opposed his nomination, and their party controls the legislative chamber.
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