…by the Washington Post, Submitted to VT
The Washington Post’s Lisa Rein reports: Veterans Affairs Secretary David J. Shulkin’s chief of staff doctored an email and made false statements to create a pretext for taxpayers to cover expenses for the secretary’s wife on a 10-day trip to Europe last summer, the agency’s inspector general has found.
Vivieca Wright Simpson, VA’s third-most senior official, altered language in an email from an aide coordinating the trip to make it appear that Shulkin was receiving an award from the Danish government — then used the award to justify paying for his wife’s travel, Inspector General Michael J. Missal said in a report released Wednesday. VA paid $4,312 for her airfare.
The account of how the government paid travel expenses for the secretary’s wife is one finding in an unsparing investigation that concluded that Shulkin and his staff misled agency ethics officials and the public about key details of the trip.
“Although the [inspector general’s office] cannot determine the value VA gained from the Secretary and his delegation’s three and a half days of meetings in Copenhagen and London at a cost of at least $122,334, the investigation revealed serious derelictions by VA personnel,” the watchdog concluded.
READ MORE: http://wapo.st/2EGyvI0
Gordon Duff posted articles on VT from 2008 to 2022. He is a Marine combat veteran of the Vietnam War. A disabled veteran, he worked on veterans and POW issues for decades.
Gordon is an accredited diplomat and is generally accepted as one of the top global intelligence specialists. He manages the world’s largest private intelligence organization and regularly consults with governments challenged by security issues.
Duff has traveled extensively, is published around the world, and is a regular guest on TV and radio in more than “several” countries. He is also a trained chef, wine enthusiast, avid motorcyclist, and gunsmith specializing in historical weapons and restoration. Business experience and interests are in energy and defense technology.
ATTENTION READERS
We See The World From All Sides and Want YOU To Be Fully InformedIn fact, intentional disinformation is a disgraceful scourge in media today. So to assuage any possible errant incorrect information posted herein, we strongly encourage you to seek corroboration from other non-VT sources before forming an educated opinion.
About VT - Policies & Disclosures - Comment Policy
you are now witnessing problems in both the high & low echelons of the VA. No one at the V.A. cares a wit about veterans–and I include Congress in this too. The latest (so-called) Choice Act merely adds a slush fund to hire more doctors & interns,
No where is this more evident than in W, Haven, CT, with hiring Yale Univ interns, veterans there have NO choice of statewide doctors, because–they claim–West Haven is “central.” A veteran is told he has no choice, because a VA primary doctor’s office is located “nearby” [but which primary care office does NOT accept “specialty care” (cardiac or pulmonary, for ex.]–something Congress did not define.
Thus, a veteran has NO choice of specialty care, and is forced to travel an hour or two (one way) for a crowded room 15-minute routine checkup–herded like cattle.
The “low end” for me was last month at West Haven, CT, where I had a cardiac “specialty care” checkup. I arrived 45 mins early at 9 a.m., and decided to get a simple haircut. The barber shop opened at 9 a.m., and as I entered the shop at 9:07 a.m. I asked the female barber sitting in one of the chairs if she was open…she replied “yes, but only after I finish my bagel.”
In any other private or corporate shop, she would have been counseled or even fired on the spot.
The utter lack of care or respect towards veterans is now the norm, stemming from the top down (and yes, including
GOP rep calls on VA Secretary Shulkin to resign over Europe trip expenses
By Samuel Chamberlain | Fox News
“A Republican member of the House Veterans Affairs Committee called on VA Secretary David Shulkin to resign Wednesday after an internal investigation found Shulkin had improperly accepted Wimbledon tennis tickets and charged taxpayers for his wife’s airfare during a European trip last summer.
Rep. Mike Coffman, R-Colo., an Army veteran and a Marine Corps officer, tweeted that Shulkin “must RESIGN now.””
Today it was reported on Fox that he will repay his wife’s expenses but refuses to resign; an arrogant thief who got caught. Now he should be fired immediately.
Comments are closed.