Today is the first day of yet another confirmation hearing for one of Donald Trump’s proposed cabinet members. And Ben Carson, who has been nominated to serve as Secretary of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) will be trying to forget this day for months to come.
Massachusetts Senator Elizabeth Warren told Carson she was concerned that HUD with Carson at the helm might help enrich Trump or his family with tax dollars:
“My concern is that among the billions of dollars that you will be responsible for handing out in grants in loans. Can you just assure us that not one dollar will go to benefit either the president-elect or his family?”
Carson’s reply left more than a few people shaking their heads:
“It will not be my intention to do anything to benefit any American.”
Then Carson added:
“It’s for all Americans.”
WTF?!
But Carson never actually promised to not hand out money that might help enrich Trump or his spawn, remarking:
“You can take it to mean that I will manage things in a way that benefits the American people. 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’? I think logic and common sense probably would be the best way.”
To that, Warren countered:
“The problem is that you can’t assure us that HUD money — not of $10 varieties, but of multi-million dollar varieties — will not end up in the president-elect’s pockets. And the reason you can’t assure us of that is because the president-elect is hiding his family’s business interests from you, from me, from the rest of America. And this just highlights the absurdity and the danger of the president-elect’s refusal to put his assets in a true blind trust.
“He knows what will benefit him and his family financially but the public doesn’t.”
Sounds like Trump should make it official and change his family name to the Grifters. At least that’s truth in advertising.
Here’s Dr. Carson telling the truth about his plans as HUD Secretary:
Featured Image Via C-SPAN Screengrab
