Frustrated by a prolonged leadership vacuum at the nation’s second-largest Cabinet agency, veterans service organizations are now urging the White House to select an unquestionably qualified candidate for Veterans Affairs secretary, after President Trump’s initial pick for the position withdrew his nomination on Thursday.
The fall of White House physician Ronny Jackson, a Navy doctor and rear admiral nominated in late March to replace ousted VA Secretary David Shulkin, has left the White House scrambling to find an upstanding nominee with requisite leadership experience and a well-documented history of ethical behavior. Both attributes became an issue for Jackson in the days leading up to his Senate confirmation hearing, after more than a dozen military officials privately told Senate investigators he had repeatedly engaged in excessive drinking and recklessly distributed prescription drugs.
“Unfortunately, because of how Washington works, these allegations have become a distraction for this President and the important issue we must be addressing — how we give the best care to our nation’s heroes,” Jackson said in a statement announcing his withdrawal.
The collapse of Jackson’s nomination was vexing but totally predictable, multiple veterans advocates told the Washington Examiner. Even before allegations of misconduct were made against him, Democrats and Republicans voiced concerns surrounding his lack of experience.
“We didn’t think it was a good idea for them to just let Secretary Shulkin go,” said Carl Blake, executive director of the Paralyzed Veterans of America. “Then [Rear] Adm. Jackson came out of left field for everybody. Literally everybody.”
More than a half-dozen veterans groups in Washington said they were never contacted by the White House or VA officials in the lead-up to Jackson’s nomination. Many said they were unfamiliar with the president’s physician and would likely have recommended a different candidate for the high-pressure role if Trump’s team had solicited their input.
“Nobody contacted us to discuss nominees. That’s their prerogative, but we represent 2 million American veterans in every legislative district in the country. So I think we’re pretty finely tuned in to how the VA works, and what veterans want,” explained a spokesman for the American Legion.
Ed Zackery, director of an Ohio-based Veterans Service Organization, said his organization has heard from the VA and administration officials “from time to time” on matters related to care for veterans. “But they didn’t reach out to us on this, which we were surprised about,” he said, expressing hope that he might be contacted this time around.
According to one person who attended Thursday’s White House event for wounded veterans, members of the president’s staff were hinting that acting VA Secretary Robert Wilkie could be nominated to permanently take over the agency, where morale has reached an all-time low amid unending scandals and disagreements within leadership.
“We saw the VA moving in a positive direction under the last two incumbents, and the longer the VA goes without a qualified person sitting at the secretary’s desk, the more the agency is going to suffer,” this person said.
Some veterans groups said they would support Wilkie for the top VA job, despite him being appointed less than a month ago to temporarily lead the agency, mostly because they know him and he’s already proven himself capable.
“I think he’s done a good job of grabbing the bull by the horns with the problems the VA is facing right now, and I know more about him than anyone knew about Jackson,” Blake, the PVA director, said.
VA spokesman Curtis Cashour referred questions regarding “Cabinet nominations” to the White House. A senior White House official dismissed Wilkie’s name, claiming “people in the personnel office like him, but he’s not someone the president is looking at.”
During a lengthy phone interview Thursday morning, Trump told Fox News he already had someone in mind to nominate next. “Somebody with political capability,” the president teased.
Two sources close to the administration said Energy Secretary Rick Perry could be a contender but is unlikely to actively campaign for the position.
“The boss likes him a lot, but the boss turned him down for DOD and DHS, so the boss’ affection only goes so far,” said a source close to Perry, who described his current role as “a great retirement gig for the former governor of Texas.”
Tom Pyle, who previously led the Department of Energy’s transition team, said if the president asked Perry to take on the undesirable task of leading the VA, “I suspect he would accept.”
Perry’s name “was kicked around” when Trump was reviewing candidates in March, but the senior White House official said the president had lunch with his energy secretary right before Jackson was picked and the position never came up during their conversation.
Others floated VA Deputy Secretary Thomas Bowman, a Marine veteran and former aide to Senate Veterans Affairs Committee Chairman Johnny Isakson, R-Ga., whose bipartisan Choice Act legislation earned Bowman’s support last November. Isakson’s office publicly pressured the White House against removing Bowman from his position earlier this year, warning in a statement that doing so would “be a mistake” and inject unnecessary tension into the chairman’s relationship with Trump.
“Our view in the first place was that he should have been elevated,” said Zackery. “Bowman’s a good man. He’s a veteran. He’s been the No. 2 guy there since the start of this administration. Obviously if he was selected to be in his current position there, you would think he would be eligible for the No. 1 job.”
Asked on Thursday if Bowman was being considered, a senior White House said “definitely no.”
