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HUD Secretary Ben Carson says he intends to leave his post at the end of Trump’s first term

Housing and Urban Development Secretary Ben Carson says he intends to leave his post at the end of President Donald Trump's first term.

Housing and Urban Development Secretary Ben Carson watches a video presentation at the Philadelphia Housing Authority (PHA), Thursday, Feb. 14, 2019 in Philadelphia. Carson was in Philadelphia to announce the awarding of $74 million in grants to hundreds of public housing authorities across the country. (AP Photo / Jacqueline Larma)
Housing and Urban Development Secretary Ben Carson watches a video presentation at the Philadelphia Housing Authority (PHA), Thursday, Feb. 14, 2019 in Philadelphia. Carson was in Philadelphia to announce the awarding of $74 million in grants to hundreds of public housing authorities across the country. (AP Photo / Jacqueline Larma)Read moreAP
    by Tracy Jan, Washington Post
    Published 

WASHINGTON — Housing and Urban Development Secretary Ben Carson says he intends to leave his post at the end of President Trump’s first term.

Carson made his remarks in a segment airing Monday evening on Newsmax TV, a conservative news outlet. In his two years leading HUD, Carson has dialed back civil rights enforcement at the agency and suspended Obama-era rules that had been aimed at fighting housing segregation and discrimination.

"I will certainly finish out this term," Carson said during his interview with Newsmax. But he added that "I would be interested in returning to the private sector because I think you have just as much influence, maybe more, there."

HUD did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

Trump appointed Carson, a retired neurosurgeon who gained fame for his pioneering surgery separating conjoined twins, to lead HUD even though he lacked prior housing, executive, or government experience. He ran an unsuccessful bid for president in 2016.

Carson’s two-year tenure as HUD secretary got off to a rocky start, after allowing his son to help organize an agency “listening tour” in Baltimore despite warnings from department lawyers that doing so risked violating federal ethics rules. Ben Carson Jr., a local businessman, and his wife were inviting people with whom they potentially had business dealings, the Washington Post reported at the time.

Carson also came under congressional scrutiny with his lavish efforts to redecorate his office.