Ben Carson Authorized in a $ 31,000 Investigation into a Madness in the Dining Room

The internal control officer of the Ministry of Housing and Urban Development has authorized Secretary Ben Carson to be guilty of wrongdoing after investigating a project to purchase dining room furniture. Worth more than $ 31,000 US for its office suite.

"We have not found enough evidence to support Carson's allegations of misconduct as part of this purchase," said the ministry's inspector general's office in a new report on the investigation.

The department, known as HUD, revealed the price tag that raised eyebrows in February 2018. Carson was appointed to the post of minister by President Donald Trump in December 2016 and was confirmed to this position in March.

The report, released Thursday afternoon, said HUD officials had allocated $ 31,561 to "buying new furniture for the secretarial room" without informing Congressional appropriation committees, as the government said. requires the law for any purchase of furniture or decorations over $ 5,000.

However, the board noted that HUD "did not ultimately buy this piece of furniture and that the purchase did not result in any spending of departmental funds because it was canceled on March 1, 2018, at the request of Secretary Carson, as a result of published reports the market. "

The officials originally responsible for the purchase had determined that the furniture in the secretariat suite was "in poor condition" and "should be replaced," the report says. These officials were aware of the law requiring them to inform the Congress of the purchase, but did not take it into account or did not understand that they were bound by it. this.

Carson himself said that it was "ok" to replace the furniture. He let his wife provide a "stylistic contribution" to his staff to handle the situation, the report says.

"We have not found any evidence that the secretary or Ms. Carson has improperly influenced a ministry employee in the marketplace," the watchdog wrote.

A spokesman for the Inspector General's office told NBC News that "we believe the findings of the report released today speak for themselves."

Nevertheless, "for the sake of clarity," the spokesman pointed out that the watchdog's report made no recommendation to the HUD since he presented no evidence of misconduct "and because the Ministry was employing to remedy the legal ramifications of the dining room, buying furniture and preventing future violations of the law of appropriations. "