The inspector general for the Department of Housing and Urban Development found no evidence of misconduct by HUD Secretary Ben Carson regarding a pricey furniture order.
The inspector general spent more than a year investigating whether Carson, 67, and his wife improperly attempted to buy a $31,561 dining set for his office suite. Carson never got the set as he canceled the order in March 2018 after media reports surfaced.
The watchdog found that he and his wife, Candy, were not directly responsible for the attempted purchase, according to Fox News. Rather, Carson left the procurement of new office furnishings to members of his staff “in consultation with his wife, who provided stylistic input after the Department decided to purchase new furniture.”
“We found no evidence indicating that either Secretary or Mrs. Carson exerted improper influence on any departmental employee in connection with the procurement,” the inspector general report reads. “We did not find sufficient evidence to substantiate allegations of misconduct on the part of Secretary Carson in connection with this procurement.”
The report did find that although HUD staff obligated departmental funds for the purchase, they “did not make required notification” to appropriations committees in the House and Senate before doing so.
Carson said from the beginning that HUD staffers, in consultation with his wife, made the purchase after it was determined that the furniture in his office was unsafe.
“People were stuck by nails, and a chair had collapsed with someone sitting in it,” he explained before the House Appropriations Committee last year. “You know I’m not really big into decorating. If it were up to me, my office would probably look like a hospital waiting room. At any rate, I invited my wife in to come help me.”
