During his Senate confirmation hearing Thursday, housing and urban development secretary nominee Ben Carson faced a pointed line of questioning from Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) regarding President-elect Donald Trump's potential conflicts of interest. During a press conference Wednesday — his first since July — Trump announced that with regard to his sprawling real estate business, he would not divest his ownership stake but would instead resign all positions. Ethics officials quickly pointed out that Trump's plan for his business was "wholly inadequate."
The Department of Housing and Urban Development is set to control a nearly $49 billion budget this fiscal year — one that, if confirmed, Carson will be tasked with dispensing toward the goal of revitalizing troubled neighborhoods and improving housing access. Warren pointed out that given Trump's continued financial stake in a real estate business, Carson could conceivably implement federal programs, using taxpayer money, that would result in dollars in the pocket of a President Trump:
Carson attempted to evade the question, saying he would not intentionally implement any programs that benefited any single American. At least, that's what he meant to say — as Vox's Matthew Yglesias pointed out, his stumbled a bit in making that point. Kimberly Alters
The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
-
Quiz of The Week: 6 – 12 SeptemberQuiz Have you been paying attention to The Week's news?
-
The week’s best photosIn Pictures A palace on fire, a shopping cart protest, and more
-
The Week Unwrapped: Why is horse-racing going on strike?Podcast Plus, will the South Korean women who worked in state-run brothels set up for US soldiers succeed? And what’s behind a surge in leg-lengthening surgery?
-
New York court tosses Trump's $500M fraud fineSpeed Read A divided appeals court threw out a hefty penalty against President Trump for fraudulently inflating his wealth
-
Trump said to seek government stake in IntelSpeed Read The president and Intel CEO Lip-Bu Tan reportedly discussed the proposal at a recent meeting
-
US to take 15% cut of AI chip sales to ChinaSpeed Read Nvidia and AMD will pay the Trump administration 15% of their revenue from selling artificial intelligence chips to China
-
NFL gets ESPN stake in deal with DisneySpeed Read The deal gives the NFL a 10% stake in Disney's ESPN sports empire and gives ESPN ownership of NFL Network
-
Samsung to make Tesla chips in $16.5B dealSpeed Read Tesla has signed a deal to get its next-generation chips from Samsung
-
FCC greenlights $8B Paramount-Skydance mergerSpeed Read The Federal Communications Commission will allow Paramount to merge with the Hollywood studio Skydance
-
Tesla reports plummeting profitsSpeed Read The company may soon face more problems with the expiration of federal electric vehicle tax credits
-
Dollar faces historic slump as stocks hit new highSpeed Read While stocks have recovered post-Trump tariffs, the dollar has weakened more than 10% this year
