http://www.businessinsider.com/ben-carson-wife-candy-dining-set-purchase-blame-2018-3
During testimony before a House committee, Carson said HUD's dining room furniture needed to be replaced for safety reasons.
"People were being stuck by nails, a chair had collapsed with somebody sitting in it," Carson told the committee during his first hearing before Congress since the controversial purchase was reported last month.
So he asked Candy to help with the redecoration efforts.
"I left it with my wife," he said. "The next thing that I, quite frankly, heard about it was that this $31,000 table had been bought."
Carson noted that he did briefly peruse furniture catalogs before the purchase was made and was unhappy with what he thought were extravagant prices.
"My wife also looked at catalogs and wanted to be sure that the color of the chair fabric of any set that was chosen matched the rest of the decor," Carson wrote in a March 1 statement.
Carson insisted that he had the furniture order canceled "immediately" after he found out about it and told the committee that the idea that he was spending lavishly on his own office while simultaneously cutting the agency's budget "makes for a wonderful story ... but it bears no resemblance to the truth."
But, he added, HUD "used the opportunity" to try to figure out what "internal controls" had allowed the purchase to be made in the first place.
"We finally got a CFO in December and we've been able to address those," he said, referring to the agency's new chief financial officer.
.@secretarycarson on $31,000 table: "I said, 'what the heck is that all about?'"
Full video here: https://t.co/F1yQX0ZobK pic.twitter.com/gLkcovdF8z
— CSPAN (@cspan) March 20, 2018 " data-e2e-name="embed-container" data-media-container="embed" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-top: 20px; margin-bottom: 20px; color: rgb(17, 21, 22); font-family: Georgia, Times, sans-serif; font-size: 19px;">
Women be spending amirite?
- Housing and Urban Development Secretary Ben Carson is under fire for spending $31,000 on a lavish dining set for his office.
- Carson suggested during a Tuesday House committee hearing that his wife, Candy Carson, was to blame for the extravagant spending.
- The secretary also said that the new dining room furniture was necessary for safety reasons.
During testimony before a House committee, Carson said HUD's dining room furniture needed to be replaced for safety reasons.
"People were being stuck by nails, a chair had collapsed with somebody sitting in it," Carson told the committee during his first hearing before Congress since the controversial purchase was reported last month.
So he asked Candy to help with the redecoration efforts.
"I left it with my wife," he said. "The next thing that I, quite frankly, heard about it was that this $31,000 table had been bought."
Carson noted that he did briefly peruse furniture catalogs before the purchase was made and was unhappy with what he thought were extravagant prices.
"My wife also looked at catalogs and wanted to be sure that the color of the chair fabric of any set that was chosen matched the rest of the decor," Carson wrote in a March 1 statement.
Carson insisted that he had the furniture order canceled "immediately" after he found out about it and told the committee that the idea that he was spending lavishly on his own office while simultaneously cutting the agency's budget "makes for a wonderful story ... but it bears no resemblance to the truth."
But, he added, HUD "used the opportunity" to try to figure out what "internal controls" had allowed the purchase to be made in the first place.
"We finally got a CFO in December and we've been able to address those," he said, referring to the agency's new chief financial officer.
.@secretarycarson on $31,000 table: "I said, 'what the heck is that all about?'"
Full video here: https://t.co/F1yQX0ZobK pic.twitter.com/gLkcovdF8z
— CSPAN (@cspan) March 20, 2018 " data-e2e-name="embed-container" data-media-container="embed" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-top: 20px; margin-bottom: 20px; color: rgb(17, 21, 22); font-family: Georgia, Times, sans-serif; font-size: 19px;">
Women be spending amirite?
