Veterans groups honor ousted VA chief at private event

At a banquet thanking Shulkin for his year leading the Department of Veterans Affairs, the veterans groups commended him for a “bipartisan” leadership in the second-largest government agency, according to the Military Times. 

Shulkin’s comments in his speech at the event, hosted by Disabled American Veterans, were more cordial than his recent media appearances in which he claimed the administration forced him out over his resistance to privatizing VA services. 

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“I know that you in this room and our leadership is going to do the right thing for veterans,” Shulkin remarked Wednesday, according to the Military Times. “We will continue to make progress and continue to honor our veterans.” 

Shulkin, a holdover from the Obama administration, was a sharp opponent of a push by some officials in the Trump administration to privatize the VA before he was ousted in late March.

The former secretary also did not mention in his speech the controversy that preceded his exit from the administration: an inspector general report that faulted him for misusing VA resources during a $122,000 trip to Europe that included leisure and sightseeing activities.

Many of the major groups in attendance, including the American Legion and Veterans of Foreign Wars, have criticized Shulkin’s ouster and the administration’s push to privatize medical care services, the Times noted. 

Shulkin says that he was fired by Trump, while the White House insists that the secretary resigned.