While trying to hold a press conference at Morning Star Church Baptist Church in Baltimore this Wednesday, Housing and Urban Development Secretary Ben Carson and his staff were reportedly asked to leave by a church member who saw them setting up for the event, according to the Baltimore Sun.
Carson was in Baltimore in the midst of fallout over President Trump’s attacks on Rep. Elijah Cummings (D-MD), who represents the city, which Trump derided as a “disgusting, rat and rodent infested mess.”
After the church member, identified by the Sun as Gregory Evans, ask Carson to leave, he held the presser elsewhere and complained about the church’s “animosity.”
“For instance, you guys know you were set up on this property right here, it’s a church, and they say ‘Get off of our property,’” Carson said. “A church, when we’re talking about helping the people.”
“This is the level to which we have sunken as a society and it’s so important that we stop this, this madness,” he added.
Ben Carson claims he was kicked out of Baltimore church property because of "animosity" pic.twitter.com/n6Wk98wkq5
— TPM Livewire (@TPMLiveWire) July 31, 2019
But Carson may have been jumping to conclusions. Speaking to the Sun, Evans said his asking Carson to go elsewhere wasn’t anything personal.
“I didn’t know it was Secretary Carson. I just know there were a bunch of people over there that were taking over our site,” Evans said, adding that Carson did not get permission to hold the press conference on church grounds.
From the Baltimore Sun:
Evans said the church serves the community, distributing clothes and food, offering addiction counseling and providing youth programs. He said HUD has done little to help the neighborhood under the Trump administration.
Carson was in town to promote Trump urban improvement plans for the city. He defended Trump’s remarks about the city during the presser, saying “there are problems in Baltimore, and you can’t sweep them under the rug.”
Featured image via screen grab
