Dozens at VA get reassignments
Trump loyalists purge employees before new secretary takes over
WASHINGTON — Ahead of Robert Wilkie’s likely confirmation to lead the Department of Veterans Affairs, Trump loyalists at the agency are taking aggressive steps to purge or reassign staff perceived to be disloyal to President Donald Trump and his agenda for veterans, according to multiple people familiar with the moves.
The transfers include more than a dozen career civil servants who have been moved from the leadership suite at VA headquarters and reassigned to lower-visibility roles. The employees served agency leaders, some dating back more than two decades, in crucial support roles that help a new secretary. None say they were given reasons for their reassignments.
The moves are being carried out by a small cadre of political appointees led by acting Secretary Peter O’Rourke who have consolidated power in the four months since they helped oust former Secretary David Shulkin.
The reshuffling marks a new stage in a long estrangement between civil servants and Trump loyalists at VA, where staff upheaval threatens to derail service to one of the president’s key constituencies, according to current and former employees.
VA officials say the reassignments will help their efforts to improve the agency’s overall culture and performance. Still, it is highly unusual for a leader in an caretaking role — which began for O’Rourke on May 30 — to make such dramatic changes before a permanent leader arrives.
Current and former employees — and now alarmed members of Congress — call the reshuffling a loyalty purge that is targeting the alleged political sympathies of many career civil servants whose jobs are, by definition, nonpartisan.
At a House hearing on Tuesday, a visibly irritated Rep. Elizabeth Esty, D-Conn., pressed O’Rourke to explain why he has “removed, demoted or reassigned” a “significant number of career employees.”
O’Rourke called his actions “well-planned and designed moves” to improve “efficiency and effectiveness.” He acknowledged changes were not based on poor performance.