A political reporter for HuffPost on Friday called out a Department of Housing and Urban Development spokesperson for the eyebrow-raising language they used in a statement provided to the publication.
HuffPost journalist Jennifer Bendery sought comment from the agency after she reported that HUD Secretary Scott Turner allowed employees to leave work early on Friday in honor of Easter and Passover in what the publication dubbed “a brazenly religious message.”
But instead of responding to the reporter’s request for comment on the story, a HUD spokesperson instead slammed the HuffPost in a statement Bendery said was “so bonkers I laughed out loud.”
“Huffington Post’s Trump Derangement Syndrome is so severe it is standing up for criminal gang members while standing against the Judeo-Christian values our country was founded on,” the spokesperson said in the statement. “Our constitution says that we were endowed by our creator. Every coin minted and dollar printed is minted with America’s motto ‘In God We Trust.’ HUD will continue to follow President Trump’s leadership in protecting our first amendment right to freedom of religion.”
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A confused – but amused — Bendery quipped on X: “Criminal gangs, coins, what?” the HuffPost reporter wrote, followed by a laughing emoji. “(The Constitution definitely does not say we were endowed by our creator,)” she added.
HuffPost’s senior White House correspondent SV Dáte also got in on the action.
“The Constitution says we were endowed by our creator?” Maybe the very snotty spokesperson means the Declaration of Independence,” Dáte wrote in an X post.
Bendery added in her report on Friday that Turner’s email was so “overtly religious” that a group of HUD employees reached out to the Freedom From Religion Foundation, which prompted the group to file a complaint on Thursday urging him to take back the message.
Update: HUD finally responded to my request for comment about the HUD secretary sending all employees home early for Easter to reflect on Jesus -- and with a statement so bonkers I laughed out loud. pic.twitter.com/ArNHlx70uY
— Jennifer Bendery (@jbendery) April 18, 2025