VA chief regrets bad ‘optics’ of summer trip to Europe

WASHINGTON – Veterans Affairs Secretary David Shulkin told lawmakers during a testy exchange Thursday that he took responsibility for the bad “optics” of a trip he took to Europe last year. The VA inspector general said Shulkin wrongly accepted Wimbledon tickets and airfare for his wife.

“I do recognize the optics of this are not good,” Shulkin said at a House Veterans Affairs Committee hearing. “I accept responsibility for that.”

Rep. Mike Coffman, R-Colo., who had already called for Shulkin’s resignation when the inspector general report was released Wednesday, sug- gested Shulkin missed the point. “Its not the optics that are not good, it’s the facts that are not good,” he said.

VA Inspector General Michael Missal found that nearly half of the 10-day trip to London and Denmark last July was spent sightseeing and that Shulkin directed an aide to arrange the activities with his wife, an exercise that took an “extensive use of official time.”

Shulkin said he regretted mistakes he and his aides made in planning the trip and securing ethics approvals, and he reiterated those sentiments at the hearing. Shulkin is the only holdover from the Obama administration in President Trump’s Cabinet. Previously undersecretary for health, he was sworn in as secretary one year ago Wednesday.