Shulkin: I Was Fired for Not Privatizing VA Health Care

Former Secretary of Veterans Affairs David Shulkin told The Washington Post Magazine on Tuesday that a "handful" of political appointees in the department worked to get him removed because of his opposition to privatizing VA health care.

"I believed I was fired because I was seen as not being willing to go along with the policy direction that the people in the White House wanted me to go along with over this issue of privatization," Shulkin told the Post while promoting his new book, "It Shouldn't Be This Hard to Serve Your Country."

President Donald Trump fired Shulkin last year after the VA inspector general found that he had misled agency ethics officials and the public about a taxpayer-funded trip he took to Europe. However, Shulkin claims that his opposition to dismantling VA health care and sending veterans to the private sector for treatment caused him to lose support at the department.

"At VA, we had about 30 political appointees, and most of these political appointees who then take on leadership roles in the organization were dedicated, focused on their jobs and did a great job," Shulkin said. "But there was a handful of them that frankly, you know, had a belief that the department should be headed in a different direction and worked against me and ultimately tried and were successful in seeing me removed."

He added that privatization was "the issue that I believe that I had the strongest policy differences on with this group."

• Fired VA Chief's Book: Trump Eyed Shuttering Parts of VA Health System
• IG Report: Former VA Secretary Shulkin Broke Ethics Rules