Veterans Affairs (VA) Secretary David Shulkin has finally received approval from the White House to dismiss agency staffers that continue to oppose his policies and defy his leadership.
According to Politico, Shulkin’s new chief of staff, Peter O’Rourke, is reportedly meeting with each VA staffer who is believed to have gone against Shulkin or pushed for his ouster.
“Those who crossed the line in the past are going to have to be accountable for those decisions,” Shulkin told Politico.
Last week, Shulkin blamed several political appointees in his department for attempting to undermine him and his policies.
Shulkin at that time in an interview with The New York Times, said that he was currently investigating some political appointees in the agency for misconduct and might have them removed, claiming they were “trying to undermine the department from within.” He did not specify how many people were involved in what he called “subversive events”.
“If there are people here who don’t want the VA to succeed, I want them out,” he said.
The Times also reports that several officials said Shulkin has already spoken with White House chief of staff John Kelly about his worries over the political appointees.
As the last remaining Obama administration appointee, at the beginning Shulkin had a working relationship with the White House. According to reports, he had several conflicts with administration officials in recent months.
However, Shulkin is still under pressure from the VA inspector general who found that he had improperly used taxpayer dollars during a trip to Europe. Shulkin apparently spent most of the Europe trip sightseeing, misused government resources by having the VA cover the cost of his wife’s airfare and improperly accepted tickets to Wimbledon.
Shulkin denied some of the findings, adding that he has already reimbursed the government for the cost of his wife’s plane tickets.
The Hill reported that the White House indicated Tuesday that President Trump still has confidence in Shulkin despite the findings.
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