Rep. Claudia Tenney (R-NY) said on Wednesday that Housing and Urban Development Secretary Ben Carson is not to blame for the $31,000 dining set his agency purchased for the secretary’s suite.

Instead, Tenney blamed the “deep state,” a term paranoid Trump administration officials use to describe career government employees that Trump’s allies believe are working to undermine President Donald Trump.

“Somebody in the deep state ― it was not one of his people, apparently ― ordered a table, like a conference room table or whatever it was, for a room,” Tenney said on WUTQ radio’s “Talk of the Town.” “And that’s what the cost was. Ben Carson tried to — he said, ‘You know how hard it is to turn it back because of the way that the procurement happens?'”

HUD purchased a $31,000 dining set for Carson’s office suite, an order Carson cancelled once the media learned of the big purchase. Carson has said that he had little to do with the process and testified earlier this week that he left the task to his wife.

Asked about Carson’s testimony placing responsibility on his wife, Candy Carson, Tenney said, “I don’t know that he’s blaming his wife.”

H/t Huffington Post