HUD Spent $31,000 On New Dining Room Set For Ben Carson

BALTIMORE (WJZ) -- According to CNN, the Department of Housing and Urban Development spent over $31,000 on a new dining room set for Secretary Ben Carson's office.

CNN cites federal records and a whistleblower.

A woman claims she lost her job in the department for refusing to spend more than budgeted to redecorate Secretary Carson's office.

Helen Foster used to be the Chief Administrative Officer for HUD but claims she was given a new job with no responsibilities after refusing to misuse taxpayer money. Foster says she was pressured to find extra funds to renovate the office. The legal limit is $5,000.

A HUD official told CNN that the $31,561 dining room set is not subject to that limit.

"The old table and chairs were from 1967 and deemed unrepairable," he told CNN.

The new set was purchased from a small Baltimore business, Sebree and Associates LLC, according to purchasing records.

The department claims they only bought new blinds for the secretary and the total amount spent on redecorating the office was $3,373.

Secretary Carson worked at Johns Hopkins as a pediatric neurosurgeon and currently lives in Maryland.

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