Ben Carson would not answer whether President-elect Donald Trump could benefit from Department of Housing and Urban Develop loans during a fierce line of questioning from Democratic Sen. Elizabeth Warren at his confirmation hearing Thursday.
“If there happens to be an extraordinarily good program that’s working for millions of people and it turns out that someone that you’re targeting is going to gain, you know, $10 from it, am I going to say ‘No’?” Carson asked. “Logic and common sense probably would be the best way.”
Trump, who has made most of his fortune in real estate, announced on Wednesday an ethics plan aimed at avoiding conflicts of interests between his business dealings and role as president. But Warren, along with the head of the U.S. Office of Government Ethics and ethics experts, said the plan falls far short.
“The reason you can’t assure us of that is because the president-elect is hiding his family’s business interests from you, from me, from the rest of America,” Warren said. Democratic Sen. Sherrod Brown noted that Trump’s financial disclosure forms show he owns a stake in at least one government-subsidized rental property in New York City.
Carson promised to alert the Senate Banking, House and Urban Affairs Committee to to any potential dealings with the property.
