Mr. Carson’s tone was markedly different on Tuesday, when he told a House subcommittee that he had dealt himself out of the decision-making chain on the dining room set, despite internal department emails showing that he had participated in the selection of specific pieces of furniture last summer.
“I invited my wife to come and help,” Mr. Carson said on Tuesday. “I left it to my wife, you know, to choose something. I dismissed myself from the issues.” And it was his wife, Candy, he said, who “selected the color and style” of the furniture, “with the caveat that we were both not happy about the price.”
Despite his mea culpa, Mr. Carson took issue with the characterization of the purchase as “extravagant” and press reports that suggested he had authorized $31,000 in taxpayer funding for a single table.
“It’s not a table; it’s 17 pieces of furniture,” said Mr. Carson, who canceled the order when it was revealed in the press last month.
Mr. Scott, the lone African-American Republican in the Senate, said he was sympathetic to Mr. Carson, joking that he had become “a piñata.” But he also expressed publicly what many Republicans have said much more forcefully in private — that Mr. Carson needed to stop blaming others.
The scandal, Mr. Scott said, “has not been helpful, and I appreciate you taking responsibility.”
Legislators also confronted Mr. Carson with questions about the firing this week of HUD’s chief information officer, Johnson Joy, after The Guardian disclosed links to a colleague accused of fraud.
“I lost confidence in his ability to lead,” Mr. Carson said.
When Mr. Brown asked if he was aware of any problems with Mr. Joy, Mr. Carson said, “I generally don’t get involved in lower-level staffing decisions,” adding that Mr. Joy “had a tremendous amount of experience in technological advancement” that the department needed.
During the hearing, Mr. Carson continued to show support for Mr. Trump’s 2019 budget request, which included a $6 billion cut to HUD, hours after Senate and House negotiators bypassed the White House to allocate big increases to his agency’s budget.
Mr. Carson played no role in the congressional negotiations, House and Senate staff members involved in the process said.
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