Emails reveal Housing and Urban Development Secretary Ben Carson and his wife ordered a $31,000 dining room set to redecorate his office despite his spokesman’s saying staffers picked out the furniture, according to a report.

An email from a career HUD staffer with the subject line “Secretary’s dining room set needed” sent to Carson’s assistant last August refers to “printouts of the furniture the Secretary and Mrs. Carson picked out,” CNN reported on Wednesday.

HUD denied the Carsons had anything to do with selecting the mahogany dining room set when CNN reported the purchase last month and said staffers in charge of the agency’s Washington headquarters made the decision.

Carson expressed surprise at the price tag earlier this month said he directed his agency to cancel the order.

“I was as surprised as anyone to find out that a $31,000 dining set had been ordered,” Carson said in a statement. “I have requested that the order be canceled. We will find another solution for the furniture replacement.”

He said he and his wife, Candy, looked at catalogs and were taken aback by the cost of some furniture but wanted to ensure anything picked wouldn’t clash with other pieces in his office.

“My wife also looked at catalogs and wanted to be sure that the color of the chair fabric of any set that was chosen matched the rest of the decour (sic),” he said in the statement.

Asked Tuesday about the differences in Carson’s statement and what the emails reveal, HUD spokesman Raffi Williams explained: “When presented with options by professional staff, Mrs. Carson participated in the selection of specific styles.”

Rep. Trey Gowdy, the chair of the House Oversight Committee, sent a letter to HUD asking the agency to account for the purchase because it may have violated federal law limiting office renovations to $5,000.

HUD spokesman Raffi Williams initially denied the Carsons had any involvement in the dining set selection.

“Mrs. Carson and the secretary had no awareness that the table was being purchased,” he told CNN last month.

A HUD spokesman went further at the time, blaming the purchase on an unnamed career staffer. “The secretary did not order a new table. The table was ordered by the career staffers in charge of the building,” he said.

A few days later, Carson personally addressed the issue, telling CNN in a statement that he was “surprised” by the more than $31,000 price tag and was having the order canceled. The company confirmed a few days after CNN reported the purchase that the agency officially canceled the order on March 1.

“I briefly looked at catalogs for dining furniture and was shocked by the cost of the furniture,” Carson wrote. “My wife also looked at catalogs and wanted to be sure that the color of the chair fabric of any set that was chosen matched the rest of the decour (sic).”

Confronted Tuesday with the discrepancy between his past comments and the internal emails, Williams offered only this explanation: “When presented with options by professional staff, Mrs. Carson participated in the selection of specific styles.”

The documents were released following a Freedom of Information Act request from American Oversight, a liberal watchdog group led by former Obama administration officials, and offer a snapshot into how the agency acquired the furniture.