Trump replaces Shulkin as chief of troubled VA
White House doctor tapped to lead agency
WASHINGTON – Veterans Affairs Secretary David Shulkin is being replaced, President Donald Trump tweeted Wednesday, ending weeks of speculation and uncertainty about his fate.
Trump said he is nominating Navy Rear Adm. Ronny Jackson, official physician for the president and his predecessor, Barack Obama, to be the next VA secretary.
“I am thankful for Dr. David Shulkin’s service to our country and to our great VETERANS!” the president tweeted. In the meantime, he said Robert Wilkie, an undersecretary at the Pentagon, will take over the agency as acting secretary.
Shulkin had been locked for months in a power struggle with a group of Trump political appointees among his senior staff who wanted him out.
His ouster suggests they won the president over in the end, convincing Trump that the 58-year-old former hospital executive and Obama appointee was the wrong fit to lead the agency and too moderate.
Shulkin had pledged the VA would not be privatized on his watch but would provide veterans expanded opportunities to get private sector care. The political appointees want a more comprehensive overhaul and to give veterans even more access to VA-funded care in the private sector.
Shulkin himself provided the critical opening that led to his downfall. After touting Trump’s campaign pledges to increase accountability at the VA, he balked at the results of an investigation released last month that found he and his staff had committed ethics violations in planning and taking a European trip last year.