Issue link: https://www.epageflip.net/i/773127
ByJenniferC.Kerr TheAssociatedPress WASHINGTON FormerRe- publican presidential can- didate Ben Carson de- fended his experience and credentials to serve as the n a t i o n ' s new hous- ing secre- tary Thurs- day, turn- ing to his life story to show that he under- stands the needs of the country's most vulnerable. President-elect Don- ald Trump wants Car- son, a former rival for the GOP nomination, to lead the Department of Hous- ing and Urban Develop- ment, a sprawling agency with 8,300 employees and a budget of about $48 bil- lion. At his confirmation hearing before the Sen- ate Banking, House and Urban Affairs Commit- tee, the famed neurosur- geon talked about grow- ing up in inner-city De- troit with a single mother who had a third-grade ed- ucation and worked nu- merous jobs to keep a roof over their heads and food on the table. "I have actually in my life understood what hous- ing insecurity was," he told lawmakers. He credited his mother with showing him the importance of per- severance, hard work and independence. Democrats in the GOP- run Senate questioned his experience. Carson said one of the things he's learned in private life is how to select a good CEO. He says a good CEO doesn't necessary know ev- erything about running a particular business, but he knows how to select people and use their talents. Carson said HUD's rental assistance program is "essential" to millions of Americans. Taking away social safety net programs without providing alterna- tives would be "cruel and unusual," he said. At the same time, 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 for- ward." Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., grilled Carson about whether he would be able to guarantee that "not one dollar" of HUD money would go to the Trumps. The family made its fortune in real estate and Trump has declined to put his investments into a blind trust. "I will not play favorites for anyone ... I will manage things in a way that bene- fits the American people," Carson told her. Carson displayed a softer approach toward the role of the federal gov- ernment than he some- times did on the presi- dential campaign trail. When reminded that he had called for across-the- board agency spending cuts of 10 percent dur- ing the campaign, Carson noted that he later modi- fied that amount to 1 per- cent. When reminded of sweeping changes he called for in Medicare and Medicaid, he said "safety nets programs are impor- tant." Carson also talked about taking a more "ho- listic approach" to helping people and developing "the whole person." For exam- ple, he said, HUD should work with the Education Department to develop ap- prenticeship and mentor- ing programs. TRUMP ADMINISTRATION Ca rs on d ef en ds h is qualifications to be chief of housing Carson By Eileen Sullivan and Deb Riechmann The Associated Press WASHINGTON Donald Trump's pick to run the CIA told Congress on Thursday that he accepts the findings inanintelligenceassessment that Russia interfered in the U.S. election with the goal of helping Trump win, even though the president-elect has been skeptical of some of the report's conclusions. "Everything I've seen suggests to me that the re- port has an analytical prod- uct that is sound," said Mike Pompeo, a Kansas Republi- can congressman. His com- ments struck a different tone than those of Trump, who called the focus on Rus- sia and the election a "politi- calwitchhunt"beforehewas even briefed on the findings. Trump, for the first time, acknowledged Wednesday that Russia was behind the computer hacking that tar- geted Democrats during the 2016 campaign. As head of the CIA, Pom- peo would be responsible for bringing to Trump in- telligence assessments the president may find politi- cally unappealing, includ- ing additional informa- tion on Russia's interfer- ence with the American democratic process. Pom- peo promised senators on the intelligence committee that he would do so. "My obligation as direc- tor of CIA is to tell every policy maker the facts as best the intelligence agency has developed them," Pom- peo said. He is currently a member of the House intel- ligence committee. Trump has been critical of the intelligence assess- mentthatRussiawasbehind the hacking of the Demo- cratic National Commit- tee and other political sites and that Moscow's aim was to get Trump elected. This week he said intelligence of- ficials might be to blame for the leak of an addendum to the Russia assessment that was a summary of unveri- fied claims that Russia had obtained compromising sex- ual and financial allegations about Trump. The top U.S. intelligence official, James Clapper, said he did not think the disclo- sures came from intelli- gence agencies, and Clap- per said late Wednesday that he told Trump the U.S. intelligence community "has not made any judg- ment that the information in this document is reliable, and we did not rely upon it in any way." WASHINGTON CIA nominee agrees Russia tried to interfere By Josh Lederman The Associated Press WASHINGTON Vice Presi- dent Joe Biden said Thurs- day that top intelligence leaders told him and Pres- ident Barack Obama they felt obligated to inform them about uncorroborated allegations about President- elect Donald Trump out of concern the information would become public and catch them off-guard. In an interview, Biden said neither he nor Obama asked U.S. intelligence agencies to try to corrobo- rate the unverified claims that Russia had obtained compromising sexual and financial allegations about Trump. "I think it's something that obviously the agency thinks they have to track down," Biden said. He added later, "It surprised me in that it made it to the point where the agency, the FBI thought they had to pursue it." In the hourlong session with The Associated Press and other news outlets, the vice president was sharply critical of Trump for pub- liclydisparagingintelligence officials, saying Trump was damaging U.S. standing and playing into Russia's hands. He also took umbrage at Trump's comments accus- ing intelligence agencies of allowing the information to leak publicly and drawing a comparison to "living in Nazi Germany." "The one thing you never want to invoke is Nazi Ger- many, no matter what the circumstances," Biden said. "It's an overwhelming di- version from the point you're trying to make." Biden said that in the briefing he and Obama re- ceived from Director of Na- tional Intelligence James Clapper and others, there were"noconclusionsdrawn" from the uncorroborated dossier, which was produced in August and then released publiclythisweekbytheme- dia.Bidensaiditwas"totally ancillary" to the purpose of the meeting, which was to brief Obama on a report he ordered documenting Rus- sian interference in the U.S. campaign. "As a matter of fact, the president was like, 'What does this have anything to do with anything?'" Biden said. He said intelligence leaders responded by say- ing "Well, we feel obliged to tell you, Mr. President, be- cause you may hear about it. We're going to tell him," referring to Trump. Biden said intelligence leaders told him and Obama that they couldn't say whether or not the alle- gations were true or untrue. He said there was "hardly any discussion" about the allegations in the briefing. "Neither the president nor I asked for any detail," Biden said. But he added of the dossier: "I've read ev- erything." Trump has vehemently denied the allegations in- cluded in a dossier about close coordination between Trump's inner circle and Russians. The dossier also included unsubstantiated claims about unusual sexual activities by Trump, attrib- uted to anonymous sources. TheAssociatedPresshasnot authenticated the claims. Trump has denied them. The FBI has been work- ing to corroborate the de- tails in the dossier, although it's unclear how long that in- vestigation has been run- ning or how many resources are assigned. FBI Director James Comey has declined even to acknowledge the in- vestigation publicly in line with FBI protocol. The dossier was compiled by a former Western intel- ligence operative and had been circulating among news organizations. WASHINGTON Bi de n sa ys i nt el li ge nc e o ffi ci al s worried Trump allegations might leak "It surprised me in that it made it to the point where the agency, the FBI thought they had to pursue it." — Vice President Joe Biden | NEWS | REDBLUFFDAILYNEWS.COM FRIDAY, JANUARY 13, 2017 4 B