More about Trump's team
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- Lawmakers say Flynn did not inform U.S. government about payments from Turkey, Russia
- Senate confirms Sonny Perdue as agriculture secretary
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- Senate confirms Trump pick Neil Gorsuch to Supreme Court
- Senate Republicans invoke 'nuclear option' to overcome Democrats' filibuster of Supreme Court nominee
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- U.S. defense chief worries about 'reckless' North Korea actions
- Michael Flynn in talks with Congress, wary of prosecution
- Top aide to President Donald Trump leaves administration
- David Friedman sworn in as Trump's ambassador to Israel
- Ivanka Trump to become official White House employee
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- Kushner, taking new White House role, faces rare scrutiny
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- Trump SEC pick assures that his Wall St. work not problem
- AP Exclusive: U.S. probes banking of ex-Trump campaign chief
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- High court nominee to face daylong questioning in Senate
- Tillerson to skip meeting of NATO foreign ministers
- High court nominee: I'll be unbiased or 'hang up the robe'
- First daughter Ivanka Trump gets West Wing office
- White House tries to distance Trump from campaign aides
- Senate hearings get underway on Trump Supreme Court pick
- Report: Trump adviser's husband picked for Justice post
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- Documents detail Flynn payments from Russian interests
- Senate votes to approve Trump's picks for key security posts
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- Senate confirms Trump pick to head Medicare and Medicaid
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- DeVos promotes school choice, local control
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- HUD could face steep cuts, but Carson says numbers early
- EPA chief: Carbon dioxide not primary cause of warming
- AP Source: Huntsman offered job of ambassador to Russia
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- Former Trump security adviser Flynn admits Turkey lobbying
- Confirmation for Justice's No. 2 job occurs amid controversy
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- DHS chief: Agency may separate parents, children at border
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- Officials: Tillerson eyes State Department budget cut over 3 years
- Pence used a private email account to conduct state business
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- Sessions: U.S. to continue use of privately run prisons
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- Scott Pruitt confirmed by Senate to serve as EPA administrator
- Harward turns Trump down for national security adviser job
- Trump names Acosta as new choice to become labor secretary
- Senate hearings for Supreme Court pick to begin March 20
- Trump's pick for Israel ambassador faces rocky confirmation
- Senate to confirm Trump budget chief
- Andrew Puzder is withdrawing as Trump's nominee for labor secretary
- Former wrestling executive Linda McMahon on track to lead Small Business Administration
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- National Security Adviser Michael Flynn resigns amid Russia controversy
- Senate confirms former banker Mnuchin as Treasury secretary
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- Gorsuch returns 68-page questionnaire to Senate
- Gorsuch returns 68-page questionnaire to Senate
- Senate confirms Trump's health secretary
- Senate confirms Jeff Sessions to be attorney general
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- DeVos ekes out confirmation win as Pence casts historic vote
- Senate set to confirm education secretary by narrow margin
- Vice President Mike Pence says nominee Neil Gorsuch will join Supreme Court 'one way or the other'
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- Seasoned spymaster named deputy CIA director
- Pelosi calls top Trump security adviser 'white supremacist'
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- Little heard in public, Bannon is quiet power in Oval Office
- 2 Republican senators won't support DeVos nomination
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- Senate confirms Rex Tillerson as secretary of state
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- Union-backed Ronald Vitiello named to lead Border Patrol
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- Elaine Chao sworn in as transportation secretary
- Education nomination advances to full Senate
- DeVos may have used official's remarks without attribution
- GOP pushing Price, Sessions, DeVos a step toward Senate OK
- Labor secretary nominee's company outsourced jobs
- Amid criticism, Comey remaining as FBI director under Trump
- Former intelligence officer picked to lead Navy
- Senate committees approve several of Trump's Cabinet choices
- South Carolina Gov. Haley resigns to become U.S. ambassador to U.N.
- Former congressman Mike Pompeo sworn in as CIA director
- Senate panel narrowly backs Rex Tillerson for top diplomatic post
- Senate confirms Trump's picks for defense, homeland security
- Rick Perry says he regrets call to eliminate Energy Department
- Trump picks former Georgia governor as agriculture secretary
- Senate panel decisively approves James Mattis for defense secretary
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- CIA nominee Mike Pompeo agrees Russia tried to interfere in election
- Top Trump aide in frequent contact with Russia's ambassador
- Trump's Pentagon pick cruises toward likely confirmation
- Trump's Pentagon pick receives strong support in first vote
- Black lawmakers say Sen. Jeff Sessions unfit to be attorney general
- Trump's pick for top diplomat takes tough line on Moscow
- I'd stand up to Trump as attorney general, Sessions tells senators
- Trump son-in-law Kushner to take senior White House role
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- Trump selects former Sen. Coats for top intelligence post
- Trump to name Nashville's Bill Hagerty ambassador to Japan
- Trump expected to name lawyer Robert Lighthizer as top trade rep
- Trump names Bush-era veteran and policy newcomer to posts
- Trumps pick for ambassador to Israel sparks hot debate
- Sen. Corker says he is 'more than reassured' about Tillerson's views on Russia
- Trump picks Florida Panthers owner as Army secretary
- Trump's pick for budget director has urged big spending cuts
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- President-elect Donald Trump: Rudy Giuliani taking himself out of running for Cabinet post
- Trump expected to tap Goldman Sachs president Gary Cohn for economic post
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- Trump picks Oklahoma Attorney General Scott Pruitt to head EPA
- Trump taps retired four-star Gen. John Kelly to head Homeland Security
- HUD secretary nominee Ben Carson under fire for lack of experience
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WASHINGTON - Housing and Urban Development Secretary Ben Carson on Monday compared slavery to immigration in the United States, a view that experts on slavery called inaccurate and a misleading reading of American history.
Carson, who was confirmed as HUD secretary last week and is the only black member of President Donald Trump's Cabinet, was talking about the work ethic and dreams of immigrants who came to the United States through Ellis Island in his first speech at the department.
"There were other immigrants who came here on the bottom of slave ships, worked even longer, even harder for less," Carson said as he walked across a stage holding a microphone.
A HUD spokesman declined to comment on Carson's statement. The department later tweeted: "This is the most cynical interpretation of the Secretary's remarks to an army of welcoming HUD employees. No one honestly believes he equates voluntary immigration with involuntary servitude!"
Carson has been considered a hero and motivational speaker in African-American communities for his accomplishments in medicine, and became a prominent speaker in conservative circles after entering politics.
The retired neurosurgeon has drawn criticism before when making comparisons to slavery. In 2013 he branded "Obamacare," the Affordable Care Act championed by President Barack Obama, "the worst thing that has happened in this nation since slavery."
Rana Hogarth, a history professor and expert on American slavery at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, said comparing slaves with immigrants was "inappropriate and wildly inaccurate." She said immigration "suggests a desire of a person to make the journey."
"I think that he's either misinformed or made a mistake," Hogarth said. "His beginning on Ellis Island tells me there's a major gap in his knowledge of how we talk about different ways people settled the United States and what circumstances they settled in United States."
Rebecca Scott, a University of Michigan law and history professor, said slavery in the United States was a "dramatically distinct form of migration," and that slavery made realizing the American dream much more difficult for captured Africans.
"That people had aspirations for their children regardless of how they were brought to the United States was certainly true," Scott said. "Their capacity to see their aspirations realized was starkly limited by slavery."
Carson spoke to HUD employees as he began his first full week leading the department. The Senate confirmed him last week.
The agency, with a budget of about $47 billion, provides housing assistance to low-income people through vouchers and public housing, enforces fair housing laws and provides development block grants to communities.
In his speech to a standing-room-only audience, Carson pledged to lead HUD with a "very big emphasis on fairness for everybody. Everything that we do, every policy. No favorites for anybody. No extras for anybody, but complete fairness for everybody."
He praised HUD employees for their dedication to HUD's "mission of really helping the downtrodden, helping the people in our society to be able to climb the ladder. Because to me, that really is what it's all about."
Democrats and housing advocates have expressed concern about his lack of government and housing policy experience. Carson said he plans to embark on a listening tour of communities and HUD field offices around the country to "see what works and what doesn't work."