The Obama holdover to the VA will be gone soon according to new reports, which suggest Trump may oust him this week:
AP – President Donald Trump is planning to oust embattled Veterans Affairs Secretary David Shulkin amid an extraordinary rebellion at the agency and damaging government investigations into his alleged spending abuses, three administration officials told The Associated Press on Sunday.
Two officials said an announcement on Shulkin could happen this week, subject to Trump’s final decision as the White House hones in on possible replacements to head the Department of Veterans Affairs. One of the officials rated Shulkin’s chances of being pushed out in the next day or two at “50-50.” The three officials demanded anonymity to discuss a sensitive personnel matter.
Trump, who spent the weekend at his Mar-a-Lago estate, told associates that he would keep two other administration officials who had been under fire: White House chief of staff John F. Kelly and Housing Secretary Ben Carson.
“He did say that he’s expecting to make one or two major changes,” said Newsmax CEO Chris Ruddy, a Trump confidant who spoke with the president over the weekend, on ABC’s “This Week.”
“Now, other White House sources, not the president, tell me that Veterans Affairs Secretary David Shulkin is likely to depart the Cabinet very soon,” Ruddy said.
The White House did not immediately comment. Shulkin did not respond to a request for comment Sunday.
Apparently the White House did respond to these reports this morning, suggesting that Trump still has confidence in Shulkin:
A White House spokesman says the president still has confidence in embattled Veterans Affairs Secretary David Shulkin.
…But Gidley is dismissing reports of Shulkin’s imminent dismissal. He’s telling Fox News Channel, “we hear these types of rumors every day.”
Gidley says, “At this point in time, though, he does have confidence in Dr. Shulkin.”
But he says the president “wants to put the right people in the right place at the right time, and that could change.”
We reported earlier this year that Shulkin and his staff duped the ethics committee via a doctored email in order to have his wife accompany him on the taxpayer dime to Europe last year. So I expect these reports are true and that Shulkin will be out sooner than later, if not this very week.