Veterans Affairs Secretary David Shulkin last week apologized to all VA workers for the scandal involving the inappropriate use of VA funds to pay for his wife’s travel to Europe last year.
“This week there have been some unfortunate distractions from our core mission of serving Veterans,” he said in a note to VA employees on Friday obtained by the Washington Examiner. “For that I take responsibility and recognize that this could have been handled better; I owe you an apology for that.”
Shulkin stopped short of an apology last week at a House Veterans’ Affairs Committee hearing, but did say the “optics of this are not good.”
That prompted Rep. Mike Coffman, R-Colo., to tell Shulkin, “It’s not the optics that are not good, it’s the facts that are not good.” Coffman has called on Shulkin to resign over the incident.
Shulkin’s former chief of staff, Vivieca Wright Simpson, resigned last week after the VA’s Office of Inspector General said she purposefully changed an email to make it look like Shulkin was going to receive an award on his trip to Europe last week. That change justified having the VA pay for Shulkin’s wife to accompany him on the trip, which only included 3 1/2 days of work related to the VA.
Wright Simpson was also a staffer at the VA who tried to keep lawmakers from learning more about the VA wait-time scandal in 2014.
In his brief statement to VA workers, Shulkin told employees it’s time to focus again on the work of the VA.
“Going forward, it is most important that we all remain focused on the great work that you are doing and our efforts to do even better in the future,” he wrote. “As you may have heard, Vivieca Wright Simpson has decided to retire after several decades of service in service to Veterans. I am grateful that Peter O’Rourke has agreed to serve as the Chief of Staff.”
“I truly believe in you and in VA and I remain grateful for your commitment to serving our heroes,” he said. “I am honored to serve alongside you in this important work.”
