Trump tells media they can stay for Ben Carson's prayer at Cabinet meeting: 'You need the prayer more than I do'

Michal Kranz

  • President Donald Trump asked Ben Carson, the secretary of Housing and Urban Development, to lead a prayer during a Cabinet meeting at the White House.

  • Trump said the reporters in the room needed the prayer more than he did.

  • Carson thanked God for the tax bill and prayed for unity in Congress and the country.

President Donald Trump on Wednesday asked Ben Carson, the secretary of Housing and Urban Development, to lead a prayer during a White House Cabinet meeting.

Trump, after praising the forthcoming passage of the GOP tax legislation, turned the microphone over to Carson and told reporters they could stay for the prayer because they needed it more than he did.

“You need the prayer more than I do I think, you may be the only ones," Trump told members of the press. "Maybe a good solid prayer and they’ll be honest. Is that possible?"

Carson said he was grateful for the "unity" that allowed Congress to pass the tax bill.

"We’re thankful for the unity in Congress that has presented an opportunity for our economy to expand so that we can fight the corrosive debt that has been destroying our future," Carson said. "And we hope that that unity will spread even beyond party lines, so that people recognize that we have a nation that is worth saving."

Carson also made an apparent nod to a famous speech soon-to-be President Abraham Lincoln gave in 1858, saying that "nations divided against themselves cannot stand."

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