Trump's housing secretary mocked after confusing real estate term with an 'Oreo' cookie

Donald Trump's housing secretary Ben Carson has embarrassed himself after confusing the word for a common property term with the popular chocolate biscuit 'Oreo.'

67-year-old Carson appeared before the House Financial Services Committee on Capitol Hill where the incident occurred.

He was asked by Democrat Katie Porter to define the meaning of 'REOs' which stands for 'real estate owners' except for some bizarre reason Carson thought he was being asked about cookies.

Porter said:

I’d also like you to...explain the disparity in REO rates – do you know what an REO is?

Carson replied:

An Oreo?

Porter:

No, not an Oreo. An R-E-O.

Carson then went on to answer the question completely incorrectly stating that the 'o' stands for 'organisation' rather than 'owned' and the exchange only descended from there.

Carson, who has a background as a neurosurgeon, was appointed as secretary for housing and urban development by Trump in December 2016, prior to the president's inauguration.

Yet his time in office has been marred with controversy and this latest mishap is unlikely to help, especially after he shared a picture of himself with a pack of Oreos after the hearing, which didn't impress Porter.

Carson has since been the butt of many jokes on Twitter about his confusion over a cookie and people aren't seeing the funny side of things.

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