ms. carson picked out. casts doubt on carson and his agency spoke man's claim that he and ms. carson had little or no involvement in the purchase of the pricey furniture. american oversight, a liberal watchdog group, sued to get the documents. >> they lied. the internal e-mails show that he was intimately involved. his wife was intimately involved. >> reporter: a hud spokesman told cnn last month that carson had, quote, zero awareness of this purchase being made. later secretary carson painted a picture of limited involvement, saying, quote, i briefly looked at catalogs for dining furniture and was shocked by the cost. as for ms. carson, my wife also looked at catalogs and wanted to be sure that the color of the chair fabric of any set matched the rest of the decor. but in another e-mail, carson's scheduler writes, quote, hi, ms. carson, and invited her to visit hud and meet with a designer about possibly redecorating the secretary's office and bringing in new furniture. it's unclear if ms. carson accepted t

carson: no. i didn't know about that firm. ms. clark: do you or your wife or any member of your family have a relationship with that firm? secretary carson: we do not. i will say to their credit when we canceled the order they didn't impose any penalty. all the money has been returned to the u.s. treasury. ms. clark: this furniture was collect slekted by your wife, is that correct? secretary carson: a style and a color was selected by her. ms. clark: fabrics? secretary carson: with the caveat we were not happy with the pricing and they needed to find something. if anybody knew my wife, they would realize how ridiculous -- she's the most frugal person in the world. ms. clark: when did you become aware of the pricing? secretary carson: when the article came out. ms. clark: do you know aida rodriguez? secretary carson: yes. ms. clark: she certainly had the quote on the pricing. that was just never shared with you before this? secretary carson: like i said, i dismissed myself from this issue because i had much more important things to

ms. carson participated in the selection of specific styles and it's just kind of -- they don't plainly answer, were we up front, were they not? the e-mails show one thing. they kind of led us to bref something else. i will say we reached out to the white house for comment, they are not officially commenting on all of this. but kevin reporting that trump is growing increasingly frustrated with these negative headlines coming out of hud. >> well, let's see what that means. a lot of times that goes to the next step in the renee marsh, thank you so much. >> right on the heels of secretary of state rex tillerson being the latest casualty of the white house revolving door. sources say president trump is not done shaking up the team. i want to bring in cnn white house correspondent jim acosta. who could be next, jim? >> reporter: i think could could be next is the question of the moment for this white house. the winds of exchange are blowing is what one white house source told me yesterday. there's a feeling that any number of cabinet positions could get changed. there's a lot of speculation about w

ms. carson knew nothing about a dining table being purchased.nn, washington. >>> coming up, new reports revealing the mueller investigation is now looking into a possible middle east connection. you're live in the "cnn newsroom." ♪ it's a lot easier to make decisions when you know what comes next. if you move your old 401(k) to a fidelity ira, we make sure you're in the loop at every step from the moment you decide to move your money to the instant your new retirement account is funded. ♪ oh and at fidelity, you'll see how all your investments are working together. because when you know where you stand, things are just clearer. ♪ just remember what i said about a little bit o' soul ♪ things are just clearer. at holiday inn express, we can't guarantee that you'll be able to contain yourself at our breakfast bar. morning, egg white omelet. sup lady bacon! fruit, there it is! but we can guarantee that you'll get the best price when you book with us. holiday inn express. be the readiest. if yor crohn's symptoms are holding you back, and your current

carson spending $31,000 on a dining set. the president talked about how he is going to drain the swamp. does he plan on draining his cabinet? ms. sanders: in terms of if you're asking if he's getting rid of anybody on the cabinet, i'm not aware that that's taking place at any point. to be clear on secretary carson, the order that you referenced was cancelled and they're looking for another option that's much more responsible with taxpayer dollars. >> you've already said a number of times that the president will lose his confidence and he tells us, and he has confidence in these people. can you explain why the president has confidence in these people? there are numerous investigations into their spending. why did they have the president counting on this? ms. sanders: look, starting with the va, with secretary shulkin, the president is glad for the job that he's been doing in reforming the va and modernizing the va. a lot of the movements that they've had there. and he supports him in those efforts, but they're also -- we have been reviewing these actions and making sure that we're being very responsible with taxpayer dollars. t

ms. sanders: i'm not going to go any further. reporter: secretary pruitt is under scrutiny for his taxpayers and secretary carson is under scrutiny for the $31,000 dining set. can you talk about that? after media scrutiny. can you explain the white house view and taking all three of those and how you believe this fits the pattern of draining the swamp? ms. sanders: all of those individual secretaries travel are under review and i can't speak to that further as that it is going. reporter: how is this behavior consistent with the president's directive to drain the swamp? ms. sanders: that's why they are under review. but i can't get into anything further right now. reporter: the president said that he wants to come back to the table about middle east peace. ms. sanders: i can only tell you we are committed to the peace process and we are going to continue having those conversations and pushing to get something done. he sees a lot of things that everybody else isn't seeing and i can't get into that right now. reporter: i want to ask you about breaking news. am nunberg is refusing a subpoena and he said, meaning the president, may ha

secretary carson and his diningcked out a $ 1,000 system and canceled it when it came out in the press and has the president talked to him? ms. sanders: i don't have any updates on that at this point. reporter: the white house has created a working group on north korea to prepare for the summit. can you tell us what agency are involved in the working group, who is carrying it out? sarah: we are continuing to move forward in this process but no updates to provide today. reporter: the president has until tomorrow tore sign the act to allow u.s. officials to travel to taiwan. does the president plan to sign this act or veto it or allow it to become law? sarah: the final decision hasn't become made. reporter: h.r. mcmaster had strong words for russia and iran. how much influence did trump have on the words of mcmaster and the current relationship between the president and his national security advisor. sarah: they are putting pressure on russia to do the right thing. you can see what the administration's view point is by the actions we took today by placing new sanctions on russia. reporter: the president has said numerous times

ms. hanabusa: thank you, mr. speaker. mr. speaker, i yield to the gentleman from indiana, mr. carson, as much time as he may consume. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized. mr. carson: thank you, mr. speaker. thank you to my good friend, representative hanabusa. i'm pleased to speak in support of my bill, h.r. 4851, the kennedy king national historic site establishment act of 2018. i also wlike to thank my colleagues on the -- i also would like to thank my colleagues on the natural resources committee for their prompt consideration of this bill, including chairman bishop and ranking member grijalva. .r. 4851 is a bipartisan and bicameral bill with the full support of the entire congressional delegation, including my good friend and colleague, congresswoman susan brooks, including my mentor, one of my heroes, representative john lewis. and my buddy, representative joe kennedy. i thank them for joining the delegation of original co-sponsors of hoosiers. i introduced the kennedy king establishment act, mr. speaker, at the request of my constituents. to provide formal national park service recognition to