Ex- V. A. chief: I didn’t ‘ resign,’ I was fired
WASHINGTON — Former Veterans Affairs Secretary David Shulkin is making it clear he was fired from his job amid conflicting claims from the White House.
White House spokeswoman Lindsay Walters on Sunday told The Associated Press that Shulkin had “resigned” from his job when President Donald Trump abruptly announced via Twitter last Wednesday that he was nominating White House doctor Ronny Jackson to replace him.
But in television interviews, Shulkin said he had not submitted a resignation letter, or planned to, and was only told of Trump’s decision shortly before the Twitter announcement. He said he had spoken to Trump by phone earlier that day about VA improvements, with no mention of his job status, and was scheduled to meet with the president the next morning.
“I came to run the Department of Veterans Affairs because I’m committed to veterans,” Shulkin said. “And I would not resign because I’m committed to making sure this job was seen through to the very end.”
The semantics could be relevant to Trump’s ability to name an acting VA secretary to temporarily fill Shulkin’s place. Last week, Trump named Defense Department official Robert-Wilkie to the acting position, bypassing Shulkin’s deputy secretary, Tom Bowman.
The day after announcing he was replacing Shulkin, Trump told a rally in Richfield, Ohio, that he had been dissatisfied with efforts to improve the VA. Shulkin had enjoyed Trump’s support for much of his first year in the administration, but that eroded in February after a bruising ethics scandal and political infighting at the VA.
On Sunday, chagrined by Shulkin’s public statements blaming his ouster on unfair “political forces” in the Trump administration, the White House circulated a “talking points” memo to some veterans groups in a bid to discredit him. The three- page memo points out seven “lies” that it said Shulkin had spread, including statements in which he minimizes a VA watchdog report in February that concluded he violated ethics rules by accepting free Wimbledon tennis tickets.
A VA spokesman did not have immediate comment.