Following audit, more call on the VA chief to quit
Veteran groups, Pelosi criticize his handling of sexual assault case.
WASHINGTON — The nation’s largest veterans organization and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi on Saturday joined calls for the ouster of President Trump’s Veterans Affairs chief, who is under fire after a government audit found he acted unprofessionally, if not unethically, in the handling of a congressional aide’s allegation of sexual assault at a VA hospital.
“It is unfair to expect accountability from the nearly 400,000 VA employees and not demand the same from its top executive. It is clear that Secretary Robert Wilkie failed to meet the standard that the veteran who came forward with the complaint deserved,” the American Legion’s national commander, James W. “Bill” Oxford, said in a statement.
He urged Wilkie and several other top VA officials cited in the report to resign because of their “violation of trust” of the agency’s commitment to not “tolerate harassment of any kind.”
Pelosi (D-San Francisco) said Wilkie “has lost the trust and confidence to serve, and he must immediately resign.”
The VA said Saturday that Wilkie, who has denied wrongdoing, doesn’t intend to resign.
“He will continue to lead the department,” spokeswoman Christina Noel said.
The demands for Wilkie’s resignation came a day after numerous veterans groups expressed similar outrage. They include Veterans of Foreign Wars, Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America, Disabled American Veterans, AMVETS, Paralyzed Veterans of America and the Modern Military Assn. of America.
An investigation by the Veterans Affairs inspector general on Thursday concluded that Wilkie repeatedly sought to discredit Andrea Goldstein, a senior policy advisor to Rep. Mark Takano (D-Riverside), chairman of the House Veterans’ Affairs Committee, after she alleged in September 2019 that a man at the VA medical center in Washington, D.C., had assaulted her.
The inspector general found that Wilkie’s disparaging comments about Goldstein, a Navy veteran, as a repeat complainer as well as the overall “tone” he set inf luenced his staff to spread negative information about her while ignoring known problems of harassment at the facility.
Wilkie and other senior officials had declined to fully cooperate with the investigation by VA Inspector General Michael Missal. For that reason, Missal said he could not conclude whether Wilkie had violated government policies or laws, allegedly by personally digging into the woman’s past. Wilkie has denied that he improperly investigated Goldstein.
The report on Thursday drew concern from lawmakers from both parties.
Concerned Veterans for America, a conservative group that supported Wilkie when he became secretary in 2018, chided him and his team, stressing that “VA leaders should always put the veteran and the integrity of the institution ahead of themselves.”
AMVETS national commander Jan Brown said she found it unacceptable that VA would dismiss known problems facing women who receive care at its facilities.
“Women veterans already hesitate to use VA services for a number of reasons, and we need a secretary who will make our community feel welcomed,” she said.
The case of Goldstein, who agreed to be publicly identified, was ultimately closed by the inspector general’s office and Justice Department earlier this year due to insufficient evidence to bring charges.
President-elect Joe Biden has picked Denis McDonough, President Obama’s White House chief of staff, to be VA secretary.