Housing and Urban Development Secretary Ben Carson on Friday defended President Donald Trump's assessments about Baltimore and Rep. Elijah Cummings, saying that to solve problems in the nation's inner cities, everyone must acknowledge issues exist.
"We have gotten to a situation in our country now where when you hold people responsible, they don't like it," Carson told Fox News' "Fox and Friends."
"They call you a racist. It kind of reminds you if you have children you are raising them and you have one that chronically doesn't carry out their chores, do their responsible thing, and you call them out for it and they say you like him better than you like me. Basically, the same kind of thing that's going on here."
Carson said he was in Baltimore a few days ago and when he was "looking at the squalor there, and there are good things too," there are people suffering."
"I saw so many young men sitting on porches, able-bodied young men," said Carson. "We are going to be talking about this in Washington. How can we get those young men employed in terms of cleaning up the neighborhoods…(they will be) gaining some skills that will allow them to move up the economic ladder."
Trump has been slamming Cummings, the chair of the House Oversight Committee, for issues in Baltimore, and questioning where billions of dollars in aid have gone. Carson said similar questions are being asked about federal money going to other cities as well.