One of the most powerful men in government,?? ??? Housing and Urban Development Secretary Ben Carson, is terrified of desks.

Carson disclosed his highly un-understandable anxiety in a House Appropriations Committee hearing on Tuesday. The Secretary was asked to speak about the $31,000 dining set he recently tried to purchase for his office. Carson then used the opportunity to pass the buck. First, he blamed formidable desks.

Then, he blamed his wife, who... does not serve in government.

Here's Carson's version of events:

"People were being stuck by nails, a chair had collapsed with somebody sitting in it," Carson told the committee.

I'm not sure why Carson's HUD Secretary office sounds like it was firebombed in Afghanistan, but either way, Carson decided to go along with a renovation. He allegedly put his wife Candy in charge:

"I left it with my wife," Carson said. "The next thing that I, quite frankly, heard about it was that this $31,000 table had been bought."

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How do we know Ben Carson is not only incompetent but a bad person? Because he just publicly threw his wife under the bus.

Have some spine @SecretaryCarson and take responsibility. You are the head of a major federal agency. Act like it. https://t.co/RuW0WFjGi4

— Ted Lieu (@tedlieu) March 20, 2018

Carson says he immediately rescinded the order for the table only after he heard about it from news headlines. He said it was on the grounds that he couldn't justify such a lavish purchase as he prepared massive budget cutbacks to his agency.

HUD spokespeople initially denied that Carson and his wife had anything to do with the table's purchase, though later internal emails revealed that Candy was actively involved in the purchase. Whoops.

The story has eerie parallels to Candy's account of her son's birth. In her book, A Doctor in the House, Candy details how Ben, hands full of placenta, forced her to go downstairs to find something to cut off her own umbilical cord.

HUD Secretary Ben Carson, always throwing his wife under the bus.

It should be noted that Ben could've found a perfectly adequate dining room set from West Elm, or even CB2. We're not asking him to go all the way down to IKEA.

The Price is Not Right, Ben. Neither is blaming your wife for your department's decisions.