White House says VA secretary’s job safe — for now
WASHINGTON — With his job status in danger, embattled Veterans Affairs Secretary David Shulkin sought to lower his public profile Monday as a White House spokesman insisted that President Donald Trump still had confidence in his leadership “at this point in time.”
Shulkin, the lone Obama administration official in Trump’s Cabinet, abruptly backed out of a media availability session Monday morning that had been scheduled at the Veterans Affairs Medical Center in Elsmere, Delaware, as part of an annual Veterans Summit hosted by Sen. Tom Carper, D-del. Shulkin told organizers he needed to “get back on the road to Washington.”
“Secretary Shulkin’s singular focus is on finding the best ways to provide care and benefits to our country’s heroes,” said Shulkin’s strategic adviser, Ashleigh Barry, in response to questions about his public plans in the coming days.
Three administration officials told The Associated Press that Trump is planning to oust the Shulkin within the next week or two amid an extraordinary rebellion at the agency and damaging government investigations into his alleged spending abuses. The three officials demanded anonymity to discuss a sensitive personnel matter.
Early Monday, White House spokesman Hogan Gidley sought to dismiss reports of Shulkin’s imminent dismissal as head of the Department of Veterans Affairs, the government’s second-largest department, with 370,000 employees. He told Fox News Channel, “We hear these types of rumors every day.”
“At this point in time, though, he does have confidence in Dr. Shulkin,” Gidley said. “But as you know, the president wants to put the right people in the right place at the right time, and that could change.”