He probably should have just gone to Ikea.
The White House said Thursday that a pricey purchase order for a lavish dining room set for the office of Department of Housing and Urban Development Secretary Ben Carson had been cancelled, after the reported price tag — more than $31,000 — sparked intense backlash.
“The order you referenced was cancelled,” White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said at a press briefing in response to a question about the reported cost of the set. She added that Carson is now “looking for another option that’s much more responsible with tax payer dollars.”
Sanders’ statement comes days after reports emerged that the cabinet agency, tasked with overseeing and enforcing public and fair housing laws, had splashed out large sums on the dining room set and other pieces of furniture for the agency’s Washington, D.C., headquarters.
The New York Times, citing federal procurement records, reported Tuesday that officials at HUD — the cabinet agency tasked with overseeing and enforcing public and fair housing laws — had spent $31,561 on a custom hardwood table, chairs and a hutch (a dining-ware cabinet and shelving piece) for Carson’s office late last year. as well as spent thousands more on other furniture for the agency’s Washington, D.C., headquarters.
Earlier Thursday, HUD spokesman Raffi Williams told NBC News that Carson had requested the agency “rescind” the order.
Approval of the purchase would have come just weeks before the White House proposed slashing billions in federal funding from the agency’s efforts to help predominantly minority urban communities and disabled and elderly families.
The Guardian also reported Tuesday that the department had agreed to spend $165,000 on “lounge furniture” for its Washington, D.C., office, on top of the dining room set expenditure.
The reported costs quickly raised a red flag for prominent government watchdog group Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW), which called for an investigation into the matter on Wednesday.
“At a time when services for the poor and homeless may be curtailed by budget cuts, it appears that the Carson family is inappropriately spending a great deal of money to make Secretary Carson’s office more comfortable,” CREW Executive Director Noah Bookbinder said. “This is egregious and should be investigated.”
Williams, the HUD spokesman, told The Times in an earlier statement that Carson, who in May opined that public housing shouldn’t provide “a comfortable setting,” didn’t know about the pricey dining set purchase but did not feel it was too expensive and did not intend to return it.
Williams also told the newspapers that HUD officials had gone to great lengths to save the department money in its redecorating efforts, claiming they had even brought previously-used items up from the agency’s subbasement.
“Secretary Carson, to the best of our knowledge, is the only secretary to go to the subbasement at his agency to select the furniture for his office,” Williams told The Times. He also told The Post that the agency had not overspent on its redecorating efforts.
Williams did not respond to repeated questions from NBC News about the dining set and other furniture purchases, including a question about why Carson had requested that the dining set order be rescinded.
Williams also did not respond to questions about whether HUD officials had sought approval for the purchases from the House or Senate Appropriations Committees. Under a federal law known as the “Antideficiency Act,” federal agencies must seek approval for federal appropriations for certain purchases, including redecorating expenditures, from Congress.
Carson and his wife, Candy Carson, put out a statement Wednesday night on the verified, personal Twitter account they share, saying “there has been no dishonesty or wrongdoing by us.” The pair also suggested they would face further accusations of impropriety.
“Thank you to so many who have expressed concern for me and my family over the latest accusations. Rest assured that there has been no dishonesty or wrongdoing by us. All the numbers and evidence are being gathered and a full disclosure is forthcoming,” they wrote.
“We suspect, based on past attempts, that they will continue to probe and make further accusations even without evidence or substantiation,” they added, in an apparent reference to a complaint from a former HUD employee who, reportedly, flagged the situation. “We will continue to ask for God’s guidance to do what is right.”
The Times reported that the controversial purchase was first flagged by a HUD official in a complaint alleging that Candy Carson had pressured agency officials to make the expenditures even if the law wouldn’t allow it. The complaint alleged that the limit for redecorating purchases, before HUD would have had to notify Congress, was $5,000.