A day after President Trump tweeted his intention to replace Veterans Affairs Secretary David Shulkin with Rear Adm. Ronny Jackson, the White House physician, the president told an audience in Richfield, Ohio, that “the Democrats didn’t want the vets to have choice.” Shulkin, who was a holdover from the Obama administration, suggested in a New York Times op-ed published Thursday that he was pushed out because he stood in the way of Trump appointees who want to privatize the VA. “I am convinced that privatization is a political issue aimed at rewarding select people and companies with profits, even if it undermines care for veterans,” Shulkin wrote.
βI am very concerned about the future of the VA β¦ and that itβs not hijacked and dismantled.β
— Fired VA Secretary David Shulkin https://t.co/mHNqCPUABW
— MSNBC (@MSNBC) March 30, 2018