Trump fires VA Secretary Shulkin, will nominate Adm. Jackson

WASHINGTON — Embattled Veterans Affairs Secretary David Shulkin was fired Wednesday by President Donald Trump, who later announced via Twitter his intent to nominate Navy Rear Adm. Ronny Jackson, the presidential physician, for the post.

Trump announced on Twitter he was “thankful” to Shulkin for his service and planned to replace him on an interim basis with Robert Wilkie, who currently serves in the Department of Defense as Undersecretary of Defense for Personnel and Readiness. Wilkie will stay on as acting VA secretary, pending Jackson’s Senate confirmation.

“I appreciate the work of Dr. David Shulkin and the many great things we did together at Veterans Affairs, including the VA Accountability Act that he was helpful in getting passed,” Trump said in a statement issued by the White House. “He has been a great supporter of veterans across the country and I am grateful for his service.”

Despite the president’s positive parting words, Shulkin, a holdover from the Obama administration, has been on Trump’s radar for removal for several weeks. Last month, a VA inspector general’s report found that Shulkin spent much of a 10-day, $122,000 taxpayer-funded business trip to Europe sightseeing with his wife, who also had her travel expenses improperly covered by the federal government.

Shulkin also had clashed behind the scenes with Trump’s more conservative appointees to the Department of Veterans Affairs, who believed Shulkin was not moving urgently enough to privatize health care services for veterans, according to media reports.

Jackson, who has served as the White House’s physician to the president since 2013, became a focus of attention earlier this year when he detailed the results of Trump’s first presidential physical exam during the televised daily White House press briefing. Jackson gave Trump a clean bill of health.

Trump, in a statement issued by the White House said, “Admiral Jackson is highly trained and qualified and as a service member himself, he has seen firsthand the tremendous sacrifice our veterans make and has a deep appreciation for the debt our great country owes them.”

Jackson, a Texas native, graduated from medical school at the University of Texas Medical Branch in 1995, before graduating with honors from the U.S. Navy’s Undersea Medical Officer Program in Groton, Connecticut, according to a biography provided by the White House. He has served as the chief doctor for Trump’s predecessors Barack Obama and George W. Bush.

Shulkin’s ouster is the latest in a shake-up to Trump’s staff that includes the recently announced departures of Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, National Security Adviser H.R. McMaster and outgoing White House Communications Director and Trump confidante Hope Hicks.