President-elect Donald Trump has chosen Dr. Ben Carson to lead the
Department of Housing and Urban Development in his incoming
administration.
"Ben Carson has a brilliant mind and is
passionate about strengthening communities and families within those
communities," Trump said in a statement released Monday. "We have talked
at length about my urban renewal agenda and our message of economic
revival, very much including our inner cities."
The famed
retired neurosurgeon is an unorthodox pick to lead the agency which
oversees affordable housing programs and enforces fair housing
legislation.
In fact, a top Carson aide, Armstrong Williams, told The Hill
last month that the former GOP presidential hopeful wasn't interested
in a Cabinet position because, "Dr. Carson feels he has no government
experience, he's never run a federal agency. The last thing he would
want to do was take a position that could cripple the presidency."
At the time, Carson's name was being floated to lead the Department
of Health and Human Services. And Trump himself confirmed he was
considering Carson to lead HUD.
Carson teased later that he was going to accept the appointment,
writing on Facebook that he could "make a significant contribution
particularly to making our inner cities great for everyone" and that an
announcement was "forthcoming."
Carson said he was honored to
accept the opportunity to serve in Trump's administration. "I feel that I
can make a significant contribution particularly by strengthening
communities that are most in need," he said.
Carson was one of
Trump's many rivals for the Republican nomination for president, which
was the retired African-American doctor's first foray into politics.
Carson surged briefly in the polls last fall, which prodded Trump to question Carson's religion (he's a Seventh-day Adventist).
Trump
also brought up Carson's childhood temperament and anger, issues Carson
had written about in his autobiography. Trump said Carson's temperament
was an incurable sickness that he compared to "child molesting."
Nonetheless, Carson endorsed Trump less than a week after he ended his own White House bid just after Super Tuesday and said the two had "buried the hatchet."
Carson grew up in Detroit, Mich., in a home headed by a single mother. Carson told Fox News's Neil Cavuto last month his upbringing made him well-suited for this particular role.
"I
grew up in the inner city and have spent a lot of time there, and have
dealt with a lot of patients from that area and recognize that we cannot
have a strong nation if we have weak inner cities," Carson said. NPR
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