Ex-Secretary of Veterans Affairs David Shulkin doesn’t think President Trump wanted him to leave his post, but a cabal of political appointees undermined his position.
“I don’t think that this was the president. The president is committed to improving the care for veterans,” Shulkin told CNN’s “State of the Union.”
“These appointees had a belief that there was a different way to do it than I was approaching it.”
Shulkin, who has been accused of improperly spending taxpayer dollars on travel and accepting improper gifts, said the real reason he was forced out of his job — he refused to say he was fired, only saying “I did not resign” — was a push toward privatization.
White House physician Ronny Jackson, who is Trump’s new nominee for the position, replaced him.
Shulkin said his process was anathema to Trump’s political appointees in the VA, who wanted more privatization faster.
“I believe the way you improve care is work closely with Congress and listen to the veterans group and do what they want,” he said. “I practiced medicine in the VA caring for veterans, and I was bringing an agenda change that I thought was getting the progress that we needed and some political appointees felt we needed to be much more aggressive than I was willing to and so they saw me as an obstacle.”
