Housing and Urban Development Secretary Ben Carson spoke Friday of a wide-ranging clandestine plot that aims to disrupt the Supreme Court nomination of Brett Kavanaugh.
Speaking at the Values Voter summit in Washington, D.C., Carson tied a sexual assault allegation the judges faces to a group of people actively trying to undermine American democracy.
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“If you really understand the big picture of what’s going on, then what’s going on with Judge Kavanaugh will make perfectly good sense to you,” Carson said. “There have been people in this country for a very long time, going all the way back to the Fabians, who have wanted to fundamentally change this country.”
Carson was referring to the Fabian Society, a British socialist group that dates back to the 1800s that today factors into United Kingdom’s Labour Party. As noted in other reports, a chapter was opened in Boston in 1985, but is no longer active.
Carson went on to say these people, who apparently were inspired by the Fabians, have their sights set on “three things they must control” in order to change the American system, which they dislike.
“The educational system, the media, and the courts. OK? The first two they have,” Carson said. “The courts they thought they had, and it was snatched out from under their noses in November 2016.”
These unnamed individuals are “like wet hornets, just completely lost control at that point and have gone off the deep end,” he added. “The further they get away from being able to control the courts, the more desperate they become. Now they don’t see themselves as being able to control the courts for another generation. So, what is left? Chaos and destruction. And it really kind of puts this all into context.”
[Also read: Woodward: Trump sees Kavanaugh allegations as bad for Republicans in midterm elections]
WATCH: HUD Sec. Ben Carson: “The fearful part is that good people will be afraid to serve their government. They won’t want to take the chance of their reputation being sullied.” pic.twitter.com/jO2auI2ELV
— NBC News (@NBCNews) September 21, 2018
Carson spoke at the event on his personal capacity, not his Cabinet position, event organizers told BuzzFeed News.
The remarks are the latest in the Trump era by a Trump ally referencing an effort by a hidden force to undermine the presidency. Oftentimes, Trump and his Republican supporters often allege there is a “deep state,” or a secret group of government employees working to delegitimize his presidency and hurt his agenda, pointing to the Russia investigation as evidence.
Carson’s comments Friday were met with some backlash. “This is how unseriously @realDonaldTrump Cabinet official @SecretaryCarson views sexual assault. Ben Carson should apologize,” tweeted Rep. Ted Lieu, D-Calif.
California professor Christine Blasey Ford has accused Kavanaugh of sexually assaulting her during a high school party in Maryland when they were both teenagers in the 1980s. Kavanaugh denies the claim, but has seen his confirmation hit a roadblock. The Senate Judiciary Committee is working to have both Kavanaugh and his accuser on the alleged incident testify next week.
