In a Tuesday email to Secretary Ben Carson and other HUD officials, Marcus Smallwood defended Helen Foster, who has accused Carson of seeking to mismanage agency funds. | Getty HUD employee accuses Carson of conducting 'witch hunt' on whistleblower

A HUD employee has accused Secretary Ben Carson of conducting a "witch hunt" against a whistleblower and painted a picture of chaos and mismanagement that could hinder a congressional investigation into the agency.

In a Tuesday email to Carson and other HUD officials, Marcus Smallwood defended Helen Foster, another HUD official who has raised concerns over spending at the department.


"I have participated in the silencing of employees trying to protect them from the malicious activities of senior leadership at HUD," wrote Smallwood, director of records and information management at HUD. He accused Carson of launching a "smear campaign" against Foster.

"It was her job to be the conscience of HUD and ask the tough questions," he said. Foster was demoted after raising questions about the agency's handling of Freedom of Information Act requests and Carson's spending on office furniture.

Responding to Smallwood’s letter, agency spokesman Raphael Williams said, “HUD has not officially commented on any of Ms. Foster’s allegations. Ms. Foster has a pending case against the Department. The agency has a policy of not commenting on pending cases.”

Williams noted that Foster “is still an employee at the Department. Per her request, she’s currently on detail with the Department of Treasury, and she is expected to return once that detail is completed.”

Smallwood also said he lacks confidence that HUD can "truthfully" provide evidence being requested by the House Oversight Committee "because there has been a concerted effort to stop email traffic regarding these matters."

The committee, Williams said, “will receive a complete response to their query. We can assure you that email traffic at HUD did not cease on August 1st.”

POLITICO Influence Intelligence and analysis on lobbying — weekday mornings, in your inbox. Email Sign Up By signing up you agree to receive email newsletters or alerts from POLITICO. You can unsubscribe at any time. This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Smallwood confirmed the contents of the emailed letter to POLITICO. Joseph Kaplan, Foster's lawyer, circulated the letter Tuesday. Asked whether HUD would respond, Williams said the department is reviewing the letter.

A post Monday on the Facebook page belonging to Carson and his wife said, “character attacks on us have increased in an attempt to claim that a scandal has occurred.” Smallwood called on Carson to apologize personally to Foster “as you have now participated in the smear campaign.”

In a formal complaint to the Office of Special Counsel, Foster accused senior HUD officials of pressuring her to "find money" to spend on redecorating Carson's office beyond the $5,000 limit required by law. HUD has denied the accusations and released information and photos suggesting that Foster was a problem employee.

After Foster's complaint was made public, HUD revealed that agency staff had spent $31,000 on furniture for the secretary's office. That order was made without Carson's knowledge, a HUD spokesman said, and is now being canceled.

