David Shulkin, the head of Veterans Affairs Department, allegedly argued with White House aides due to his insistence that his wife have the chance to meet Prince Harry during his visit to the Invictus Games, The Washington Post wrote Thursday night.
Apparently, when Shulkin traveled to the games in Canada last September with First Lady Melania Trump and her aides, he pushed for his wife to join him on the trip because he wanted her to meet Prince Harry, who founded the games. According to The Post, the first lady’s office reportedly told him there was not enough room on the plane.
Shulkin, in a statement, told the newspaper that the allegations are “untrue.”
“I was honored to attend the Invictus Games with the First Lady and understood fully when I was told that there wasn’t any more room for guests to attend,” he said.
Meanwhile, multiple reports in recent days are indicating that President Donald Trump may fire Shulkin, too, as part of the new White House shake-up.
Shulkin has been under intense pressure in recent weeks after an internal report that found he spent most of a taxpayer-funded trip to Europe sightseeing, had the government cover the cost of his wife’s airfare and improperly accepted a gift of Wimbledon tickets.
He has also gone on record to say he’s rooting out “subversion” in his own department, where he claims other staffers are attempting to undermine him and sabotage the work he is doing.
The department itself is also facing a fair share of problems, especially with the report released on Tuesday by an inspector general which found that the agency incorrectly reported wait times experienced by veterans seeking first-time care from the agency’s doctors, as well as a series of problematic hiring practices within the department.
Shulkin being fired won’t come as a surprise after President Trump started a new batch of restructuring in the White House beginning with the firings of Secretary of State Rex Tillerson and National Security Adviser H.R. McCaster.
Be the first to comment