Who’s the villain here? Naturally our rage focuses on Donald Trump, a pantomime baddie drawn, as he would put it, from central casting. But behind him stand many others, and it’s about time they shared in the opprobrium.

Start with the unfolding scandal over Trumpworld’s links with Vladimir Putin’s Russia, and the increasingly close parallel with the Watergate affair that toppled Richard Nixon. Both episodes, then and now, began with an election-year break-in at Democratic party headquarters. In 1972, that involved burglars with torches. In 2016, it was hackers and passwords. But in each case, real and virtual, the apparent objective was the same: the acquisition of damaging political intelligence. In 1972, the culprits were taking their orders from the American president. In 2016, at least according to 17 US intelligence agencies, the orders came from the president of Russia.

Watergate spawned the now-cliched maxim that “it’s never the crime, it’s always the cover-up”. In the current case, it’s correct that had Trump’s associates told the truth immediately about their contacts with Moscow, they would now be confronting controversy rather than scandal. If attorney general Jeff Sessions had admitted that he had met Russia’s ambassador to the United States, Sergey Kislyak, twice last year, he’d have prompted raised eyebrows rather than calls for his head.

And by lying under oath, insisting he’d had no such meetings, Sessions has made his position as head of the US criminal justice system morally untenable. But even if he survives, Sessions has raised suspicions about what, exactly, he was so keen to cover up.

The same goes for the meeting Trump’s son-in-law, Jared Kushner, and disgraced former national security adviser Michael Flynn are now known to have had with Kislyak after the election and before the inauguration. That encounter, too, was never disclosed and would have remained secret had journalists not discovered it. Indeed, with a camera permanently stationed in the lobby at Trump Tower, Kislyak must have been spirited in via a back entrance. If it was a perfectly legitimate diplomatic meeting, why the secrecy?

It’s becoming a pattern. Senior Trump officials from the president downwards deny all contact with the Russians – only to be contradicted by the facts. They then have to explain why they lied, behaviour unacceptable even to those who might otherwise be relaxed about dialogue with Moscow. As Watergate showed, a first lie can spawn hundreds of others – and it’s those that get you.

But there is one big, dispiriting difference between the scandal unfolding now and the one that unseated Nixon. Four decades ago, Nixon was forced to resign because Republicans in Congress deserted him. They put their partisan allegiance aside in order to act against a president who they saw as endangering the republic. This time, the picture is very different.

Sure, Republican senators John McCain and Lindsey Graham vow to hold Trump to account. But the rest of them are profiles in moral weakness, prepared to turn two blind eyes to the actions of the president simply because he wears the right party colours. So Devin Nunes, chair of the House intelligence committee, which should be investigating all this, says “there’s nothing there”. His colleague Jason Chaffetz, who chairs the House oversight committee, declined to look into the Flynn affair because “it’s taking care of itself”. Oversight, it seems, is precisely the right word. But please don’t get the impression that Chaffetz is lethargic in his supervisory duties. On the contrary, there’s one scandal he’s very keen to investigate even now: Hillary Clinton’s use of a private email server.

Remember that? “Lock her up,” the Republicans chanted throughout 2016, believing that Clinton had put sensitive information at risk. The email affair dominated coverage and fatally damaged her campaign. Well, it turns out that as governor of Indiana, vice-president Mike Pence also used a private email account to conduct state business, including sensitive security matters and counter-terrorism, and that account was promptly hacked. Pence kept strangely quiet about that.

You see, it’s not just Trump. This week Republicans waved through yet more of the president’s absurd cabinet appointments. In comes Ben Carson, who had earlier declared himself unfit to head any department because he had “no experience”: he will be in charge of housing and urban development. Republicans also ratified Rick Perry as energy secretary: Perry famously forgot, in a 2011 presidential debate, that energy was one of the departments he wanted to abolish.

It’s Republicans who are making a mockery of Trump’s claim to speak for the forgotten millions by planning a tax cut that will send billions of dollars into the pockets of the very richest. It’s Republicans who devoted years to denouncing Obamacare, promising to replace it with a system that would miraculously provide better healthcare to more people for less money. Now that they’re in charge, that’s been exposed as the magical thinking it always was. Trump is the face of that idiocy – saying this week that, “Nobody knew that healthcare could be so complicated”, when in fact everybody but him and the blowhards on Fox News knew precisely that many, many years ago.

But we can’t just point the finger at, and pray for the downfall of, Donald Trump. He is merely the face of a deeper Republican malaise. The hypocrisies he embodies extend far beyond him. For decades, Republicans cast themselves as the party of family values, wagging their finger at anyone who had fallen short of the moral standards they set. But when Trump came along, promising them the tax cuts and seats on the supreme court they craved, all that went out of the window. Suddenly they were prepared to embrace a thrice-married worshipper of mammon who brags about sexually assaulting women and was happy to assess his own daughter as “a piece of ass”. Note the polling on white evangelical Christians. In 2011 they were the group least likely to accept that a candidate guilty of immoral behaviour in their personal life might nevertheless be able to act ethically as a leader. Now they are the by 2017 to become the most forgiving on that score.

Consider the way Republicans used to claim “freedom” as their own, posing as liberty’s champions. Now it emerges that fewer than half of all Republican voters believe news organisations should be free to criticise political leaders – a freedom that is surely fundamental.

And of course, for decades Republicans wrapped themselves in the flag, claiming a monopoly on patriotism, casting themselves as the heirs to Ronald Reagan and all those who stood strong against Russian authoritarianism. Yet now, delegates to the CPAC ultra-conservative conference will happily wave little Russian flags, so long as they have Trump’s name on them.

It’s natural to direct our fury at Trump and to want to see him gone. But it was the wider American right that, over more than two decades, feasted on bigotry, ignorance and contempt for science, facts and the compromises required by democratic governance – it was that right that incubated Trump and Trumpism. If impeachment and removal from office are ever to be more than a fantasy, it will be Republicans who will have to make it happen. And that will require them to do more than change a president. They will have to change themselves.</s>(CNN) The Senate voted Thursday to confirm Ben Carson and Rick Perry to Cabinet position in President Donald Trump's administration.

The chamber confirmed retired neurosurgeon as the next secretary of Housing and Urban Development, and then later in the afternoon approved the former Texas governor as the next energy secretary.

The vote for Carson was 58-41. The vote for Perry was 62-37.

Both Carson and Perry ran against President Donald Trump during a crowded Republican presidential primary, before dropping out and both eventually endorsing Trump.

Read More</s>The U.S. House of Representatives confirmed that Ben Carson would be the first African-American member of Donald Trump’s Cabinet. Moreover, the retired neurosurgeon and ex-presidential candidate has been approved as the new Secretary of Housing and Urban Development by the United States Senate for the Trump administration.

Mr. Carson was effectively able to receive the consent of the Upper House by a relatively close margin. He received 58 votes in favor and 41 against after which he was unanimously approved of his new role in Trump’s government. It’s rather surprising to note that even though he came to be considered as one of the strongest rivals of Trump during the Republican race for the presidency until his candidacy suffered a hard setback after the caucus of Iowa, Ben Carson faced relatively less difficulty in obtaining his role as the new Housing Secretary despite his apparent lack of aptitude demonstrated in the Senate confirmation hearing. Since Trump has quite a knack for Twitter, he tweeted saying he “is thrilled to nominate Ben Carson as our next Secretary of the US Dept. of Housing and Urban Development.”

During the election campaign, Trump vehemently attacked Ben Carson, telling him that he was a person with “very low energy” and launching harsh criticism against dubious data of his autobiography. However, Carson became one of Trump’s strongest supporters as the campaign progressed and his presidential aspirations faded. While other presidential aspirants engaged in virulent attacks, Carson maintained a poised disposition which made him stand out from the crowded field. Both Carson and Trump, however, agreed on the policies of tax cuts and replacing former President Barack Obama’s heath care law, among other issues.

With no prior experience in housing and city planning, the retired doctor will be the first African-American in President Donald Trump’s Cabinet. As the new head of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, Mr. Carson will be handling an annual budget of around $47 billion after having received bipartisan support from the Senate Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs Committee. It didn’t stop there. Ben Carson even managed to gain approval from Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts and Sherrod Brow of Ohio, both Democrats and among the most liberal members present in the panel. However, Senator Warren switched her stance and voted against Mr. Carson on Thursday after she encountered some pressure from certain segments of liberal activists who criticized her Facebook post aimed at defending her support for Carson.

An interesting sequence of events followed in the Senate confirmation hearing. While Mr. Carson regurgitated his arguments based on his earlier speech in a manner that seemed off-the-cuff, Senator Warren was prepared to knock him off-guard with an arduous question posed halfway through the hearing.

“Will you make sure not one dollar of HUD’s budget financially benefits the Trump family?” This is where things got out of hand for Dr. Carson. Senator Elizabeth Warren simply asked for Dr. Carson’s assurance that the HUD budget will not financially benefit either President Donald Trump or his family given that housing development is an area in which President Trump and his family have significant business interests. Dr. Carson failed to objectively respond to Senator Warren’s valid query. The reason for Dr. Carson’s inability to provide a guarantee or an assurance lies in the fact, which Senator Elizabeth Warren also candidly pointed out, that President Trump has kept his business interests from everybody and has failed to put his assets in a true blind trust. Critics contend this presents the core conundrum in which the Trump administration operates and inexorably attempts to blur the new President’s conflicts of interest.</s>Two of President Donald Trump's former rivals for the GOP White House nomination won Senate confirmation Thursday to join his administration.

Retired neurosurgeon Ben Carson was confirmed as secretary of the Department of House and Urban Development on a vote of 58-41. A few hours later, the Senate backed former Texas Gov. Rick Perry to be energy secretary, 62-37.

Carson and Perry are the 17th and 18th of Trump's 22 Cabinet and Cabinet-level nominations to win Senate approval.

Carson has never held public office and has no housing policy experience. Republicans have praised the life story of a man who grew up in inner-city Detroit with a single mother who had a third-grade education.

Perry, who once pledged to eliminate the department, has repeatedly promised be an advocate for the agency and to protect the nation's nuclear stockpile. Perry also pledged to rely on federal scientists, including those who work on climate change.

Perry, who served 14 years at Texas governor, has said he will seek to develop American energy in all forms, from oil, gas and nuclear power to renewable sources such as wind and solar power.

Democrats say they accept Perry's disavowal of his 2011 pledge to abolish the department, but they worry he may not stand up to GOP proposals to slash the department's budget.

Carson, 65, will lead an agency with some 8,300 employees and a budget of about $47 billion. The department provides billions of dollars in housing assistance to low-income people through vouchers and public housing. It also enforces fair housing laws and offers mortgage insurance to poorer Americans through the Federal Housing Administration, part of HUD.

Trump lauded Carson last week, calling him a "totally brilliant neurosurgeon" who has saved many lives.

"Ben is going to work with me very, very closely. And HUD has a meaning far beyond housing. If properly done, it's a meaning that's as big as anything there is, and Ben will be able to find that true meaning and the true meaning of HUD as its Secretary," Trump said.

Carson has not shared specific plans publicly for the department under his leadership.

At his confirmation hearing, he told lawmakers that he envisioned forging a more "holistic approach" to helping people and developing "the whole person." He didn't offer many details.

Perry, 66, told a Senate committee that he regrets his infamous statement about abolishing the department and insisted it performs critical functions, particularly in protecting and modernizing the nation's nuclear stockpile.

During Perry's tenure as governor, Texas maintained its traditional role as a top driller for oil and natural gas, while also emerging as the leading producer of wind power in the United States and a top provider of solar power.

Under questioning from Democrats, Carson said HUD's rental assistance is "essential" to millions of Americans and that the department has a lot of good programs. But he added, "We don't want it to be way of life. ... We want it to be a Band-Aid and a springboard to move forward."

He also said he'd like to see more partnerships with the private sector and religious groups.

The soft-spoken Carson, the only black major-party candidate in the White House race, grew up poor. He went on to attend Yale University and the University of Michigan Medical School before becoming the first African-American named as the head of pediatric neurosurgery at Johns Hopkins Children's Center in Baltimore.

In 1987, Carson became famous for pioneering surgery to separate twins joined at the back of the head. In 2013, he entered the national political spotlight during the National Prayer Breakfast when he railed against the modern welfare state, with President Barack Obama sitting just feet away.

GOP Sen. Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, who leads the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, said Perry was a strong leader with a record of getting results.

Democrats and environmental groups have derided Perry's nomination, calling him a steep drop-off from the two renowned physicists who preceded him as energy chief, Steven Chu and Ernest Moniz.

Perry earned a bachelor's degree in animal science from Texas A&M University, where he was also a member of the Corps of Cadets and a Yell Leader.</s>WASHINGTON — Ben Carson, a Detroit native and retired neurosurgeon who challenged Donald Trump for the GOP presidential nomination, won Senate confirmation Thursday to join Trump's Cabinet as housing secretary.

Six Democrats and one independent joined 51 Republicans in voting for Carson to lead the Department of Housing and Urban Development.

Carson is the 17th of 22 of Trump's Cabinet and Cabinet-level nominations to win Senate approval. The Senate also voted 62-37 to move ahead on the nomination of former Texas Gov. Rick Perry to be energy secretary.

Carson has never held public office and has no housing policy experience. Republicans have praised the life story of a man who grew up in inner-city Detroit with a single mother who had a third-grade education.

When his nomination cleared the Senate Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs Committee in January, Democrats said Carson would not have been their choice, but they welcomed his promises to enforce fair housing and to address lead hazards in housing and other issues. He was approved unanimously in the committee.

Sarah Edelman, director of housing policy at the Center for American Progress, said her group would work to hold Carson accountable for the promises he made. Carson, she said, has "made disparaging statements about families experiencing poverty, LGBT people, and fair housing that raise questions about his ability to be a fair and effective leader."

Carson, 65, will lead an agency with some 8,300 employees and a budget of about $47 billion. The department provides billions of dollars in housing assistance to low-income people through vouchers and public housing. It also enforces fair housing laws and offers mortgage insurance to poorer Americans through the Federal Housing Administration, part of HUD.

Trump lauded his nominee last week, calling him a "totally brilliant neurosurgeon" who has saved many lives.

"We're going to do great things in our African-American communities," Trump said, appearing with Carson on a tour of the National Museum of African American History and Culture in Washington.

"Ben is going to work with me very, very closely. And HUD has a meaning far beyond housing. If properly done, it's a meaning that's as big as anything there is, and Ben will be able to find that true meaning and the true meaning of HUD as its Secretary," Trump said.

Carson has not shared specific plans publicly for the department under his leadership.

At his confirmation hearing, he told lawmakers that he envisioned forging a more "holistic approach" to helping people and developing "the whole person." He didn't offer many details.

Under questioning from Democrats, Carson said HUD's rental assistance is "essential" to millions of Americans and that the department has a lot of good programs. But he added, "We don't want it to be way of life. ... We want it to be a Band-Aid and a springboard to move forward."

He also said he'd like to see more partnerships with the private sector and religious groups.

The soft-spoken Carson, the only black major-party candidate in the White House race, grew up poor. He went on to attend Yale University and the University of Michigan Medical School before becoming the first African-American named as the head of pediatric neurosurgery at Johns Hopkins Children's Center in Baltimore.

In 1987, Carson became famous for pioneering surgery to separate twins joined at the back of the head. In 2013, he entered the national political spotlight during the National Prayer Breakfast when he railed against the modern welfare state, with President Barack Obama sitting just feet away.</s>Ben Carson has been confirmed by the Senate to act as Secretary of Housing and Urban Development in a 58-41 vote. The retired pediatric neurosurgeon entered politics as a hopeful for the Republican presidential nomination before being nominated for the position by President Donald Trump.

As the New York Times reports, Democrats in the Senate were not as critical of Carson as they were of Trump’s other cabinet nominees. Among the Democratic senators who voted for Carson were Sherrod Brown of Ohio and Mark Warner of Virginia, according to Politico. Senator Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts had voted for Carson in the Banking Committee but voted no in the final confirmation due to pressure from the left. Brown defended his vote for Carson, saying, “He made the commitment under oath to our committee that he would fight discrimination against people because of their sexual orientation.”

As leader of the Department of Housing and Urban Development, Carson will oversee a budget of $47 billion, a department of around 8,000 employees and programs that provide low-income housing and government assistance. This is the first government position for Carson, who was previously the director of pediatric neurosurgery at Johns Hopkins Children’s Center.

Growing up in Detroit, a young Ben Carson was raised by a single mother who relied at times on food stamps to get by. Carson, however, has joined other Republicans in being critical of too much government assistance. Carson is the only African-American member of Trump’s cabinet.

During Carson’s Senate hearings, Warren and Brown questioned him heavily about the potentiality of Department of Housing and Urban Development dollars and decisions being used to benefit Trump’s various real estate business. “Can you just assure us that not one dollar will go to benefit either the president-elect or his family?” Warren asked.

In response, Carson said his actions would be “driven by a sense of morals and values.” As Politico reports, among Trump’s business interests is Brooklyn’s Starrett City, a public housing project.

Before Carson was nominated for the position, Armstrong Williams, a Ben Carson aide, told The Hill that the retired neurosurgeon and presidential hopeful felt he lacked the experience to be a member of Trump’s cabinet.

Upon announcing his choice to nominate Carson to lead the Department of Housing and Urban Development, Trump said, “We have talked at length about my urban renewal agenda and our message of economic revival, very much including our inner cities.” NPR reports that Carson’s name was previously floated around to lead the Department of Health and Human Services.

Trump and Carson engaged in multiple debates while both sought the Republican nomination. However, Carson endorsed Trump shortly after dropping out of the race. Both have frequently spoken about the need to address the country’s inner cities, with Carson saying his experience growing up in Detroit will influence his role as Secretary of Housing and Urban Development.

Some experts on urban policy have questioned Carson’s ability to lead such a complex department, including Marc Morial, president of the National Urban League. Morial told the Washington Post, “Those concerns stem from his own statements. He said, basically, that he’s not qualified for HUD or for government service. So most people I hear ask, ‘How did they convince him to take the job?'”

Now confirmed as secretary, Ben Carson will go on what the Washington Post calls a “listening tour” across the country.</s>WASHINGTON — The Senate on Thursday voted to confirm President Donald Trump’s pick to head the Department of Energy, former Texas Gov. Rick Perry, who has promised to renew America’s nuclear weapons arsenal.

Senators also confirmed retired neurosurgeon Ben Carson as secretary of the Department of Housing and Urban Development in Trump’s Cabinet.

Perry’s rise to America’s top energy official came against opposition from Democrats worried about his ties to oil companies, his doubts about the science of climate change, and the fact that he once called for the department’s total elimination — a comment he has since said he regrets.

The Senate voted 62-37 in support of Perry.

Perry, 66, was governor of Texas from 2000 to 2015, making him the longest-serving governor of the oil-producing state in its history.

As energy secretary, Perry would lead a vast scientific research operation credited with helping trigger a U.S. drilling boom and advancements in energy efficiency and renewables technology, and would oversee America’s nuclear arsenal.

In his Senate confirmation hearing, Perry said much of his focus running the department would be in renewing the country’s nuclear weapons arsenal. Trump wants to ensure the arsenal is at “the top of the pack” and said the United States had fallen behind in its nuclear weapons capacity.

Democratic lawmakers expressed worry Perry would weaken the department’s functions and potentially target its army of scientists focused on climate and clean energy research. Perry sought to reassure them saying he would protect scientists and the growing renewable energy industry.

Democratic Oregon Sen. Ron Wyden, a senior Democrat on the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, said Perry had failed to persuade him he would push back against Trump administration plans to cut the department’s budget and focus on clean energy R&D.

“As Trump is threatening to slash DOE’s budget, Gov. Perry hasn’t convinced me he’s up to the task of creating those jobs and putting points on the board in the fight against climate change,” Wyden said.

Republican Alaska Sen. Lisa Murkowski, chair of the energy committee, said Perry would be “a strong partner as we focus on everything from reducing rural energy costs to advancing the Alaska gasline project.”

Carson, who ran for the 2016 Republican presidential nomination and later endorsed Trump, becomes the only African-American in the Trump Cabinet. The Senate confirmed his appointment by a vote of 58-41.

Carson was sworn in by Vice President Mike Pence later Thursday.</s>Senators quickly confirmed Dr. Ben Carson 58-41 Thursday as President Donald Trump’s choice to lead the Housing and Urban Development Department, as Senate Democrats tire of delaying the president’s nominees and move on to other skirmishes.

Six Democrats joined 51 Republicans and Maine’s Independent Sen. Angus King to approve the nomination. Georgia Republican Sen. Johnny Isakson did not vote.

“I see each individual as human capital that can be developed to become part of the engine that drives our nation–or it not developed becomes part of the load,” said Carson to the Senate Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs Committee at the pediatric neurosurgeon’s Jan. 12 confirmation hearing. “We are the ones, who are tasked with helping to make a difference, so I do believe that government is extraordinarily important.”

Carson pledged to the committee that if confirmed, he would embark on a department-wide listening tour.

“Instead of just listening to the sage people of Washington, D.C.,” he said. “I want to hear from the people with boots on the ground, who are administering programs, who are benefiting from programs. I want to see what actually works and what doesn’t work.”

When the president announced his Dec. 5 selection of Carson to lead HUD, he said, “Ben Carson has a brilliant mind and is passionate about strengthening communities and families within those communities.”

Trump said he and Carson agree on ways to spark urban renewal and to ensure that cities participate in the economic revival. “Ben shares my optimism about the future of our country and is part of ensuring that this is a presidency representing all Americans. He is a tough competitor and never gives up.”

Carson was introduced to the committee by Sen. Marco Rubio (R.-Fla.). Rubio represents Carson’s home state, and the two men became close when they both running for the 2016 Republican nomination for president.

“As Secretary of HUD, Dr. Carson will encounter a department that is broken in many regards. It is a vast bureaucracy that reaches all corners of our country,” Rubio said to the committee when he introduced Carson.

Carson understands the challenge of redirecting HUD personnel and programs towards helping Americans thrive, he said.

“His most important work doesn’t take place here,” the senator said. “It takes place in the communities, where they have housing facilities and provide assistance to people.”

The senior Democrat on the Senate Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs Committee Ohio’s Sen. Sherrod Brown spoke in favor of Carson on the Senate floor Wednesday.

“His remarkable life story is well-known to millions of Americans and that it good,” Brown said. “But, he’s not the nominee I would have chosen to lead HUD. In, fact, he’s not the nominee that any president in my lifetime would have chosen to lead HUD.”

Carson’s life was turned into a 2009 movie “Gifted Hands” with Cuba Gooding Jr., playing the surgeon. His most famous single accomplishment was the 1998 surgery when he successfully separated 11-month-old twin boys joined at the head. The operation lasted more than 20 hours, and Carson led a team of more than 20 doctors and nurses to complete the task.

Brown, who holds one of the 23 Senate seats Democrats are defending in 2018, tried to walk the line. Carson’s climb from poverty in Detroit and Boston to become the world’s leading pediatric neurosurgeon and a department head of Baltimore’s Johns Hopkins Medical School should be a story celebrated by Democrats. But, instead of being the poster child for left-wing policies, the African-American holder of more than 60 honorary degrees was a relentless critic of President Barack Obama, and he makes the case that his rise was despite Democratic policies–not as a result of Democratic policies.

The Ohio senator said Carson’s statements about these policies disturbed him, but Democrats were not ready to block Carson beyond forcing the Senate to exhaust the maximum 30 hours of debate called for in the Senate rules.

“My colleagues and I asked Dr. Carson direct questions about his views now that he’s the nominee for Secretary of HUD,” Brown said. “I’ll give Dr. Carson the benefit of the doubt. That’s why I am voting for him, because he made commitments to me in person, sitting in my office across the table.”

Unlike other confirmation votes, the Carson fight was no fight at all. The chamber was virtually empty as senators walked in to vote, then turned to leave the floor.

An example of the lack of passion was how two Democrats – Virginia’s Sen. Mark Warner and Washington’s Sen. Patty Murray – stood and chatted in the well of the chamber. Murray put her thumb down for “No”; Warner put his thumb up for “Yes,” but it had no effect on their conversation before they, too left the Senate floor.

Shortly after the Senate confirmed Carson, senators voted to start the 30-hour debate clock for former Texas Governor Rick Perry’s confirmation as Energy Department Secretary.

The vote on Perry is expected Friday at 1 p.m.</s>The U.S. Senate voted on Thursday to confirm retired neurosurgeon Ben Carson as secretary of the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) in President Donald Trump’s Cabinet.

Carson, who ran for the 2016 Republican presidential nomination and later endorsed Trump, becomes the only African-American in the Trump Cabinet. The Senate confirmed his appointment by a vote of 58 to 41.

During his confirmation hearing in January, Carson, 65, told the Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs that he would monitor any potential conflicts of interest between his agency and properties controlled by Trump.

He also told lawmakers he was fit to lead HUD, an agency whose mission includes helping the poor get housing, even though he has sometimes criticized its work.</s>Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla. (right) Sen. Tim Scott, R-S.C. (left) and other senators return to their offices on Capitol Hill in Washington, Thursday after votes to confirm two of President Donald Trump's cabinet picks. Retired neurosurgeon Ben Carson was confirmed as secretary of the Department of House and Urban Development on a vote of 58-41. A few hours later, the Senate backed former Texas Gov. Rick Perry to be energy secretary, 62-37. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)
The U.S. Senate confirms Donald Trump's appointment of his former opponents in the presidential primaries, neurosurgeon Ben Carson and Governor of Texas Rick Perry, as Secretaries of Housing and Urban Development and Energy respectively, with the support of all Republicans and some Democrats.