John Kelly told veterans groups last week that President Trump decided to remove VA secretary David Shulkin, despite the administration’s insistence that Shulkin resigned. The dispute could have legal implications for VA policies.
by Isaac Arnsdorf
by Isaac Arnsdorf
White House chief of staff John Kelly contradicted the White House’s
claims about David Shulkin’s departure as secretary of veterans affairs,
a discrepancy that could lead to legal challenges of decisions made by
Shulkin’s interim successor.
In a private meeting last week with major veterans groups, Kelly
repeatedly said that the decision to remove Shulkin was President Donald
Trump’s, according to several people who were present or briefed on the
meeting. The White House has insisted that Shulkin resigned, disputing his assertion, in media appearances, that he was fired. (Whether voluntarily or not, his tenure as VA secretary ended on March 29.)
“Kelly said the president felt he needed to make a change with
Secretary Shulkin and went ahead and made it to get the VA back on
track,” said Dan Caldwell, the director of influential conservative
group Concerned Veterans for America (also known as CVA), who attended
the meeting.
A White House spokesman stood by the claim that Shulkin resigned.
The distinction isn’t just a matter of semantics. Under the Federal
Vacancies Reform Act, the president can appoint an interim successor to
succeed a cabinet secretary who dies, resigns or can’t perform his or
her duties. But it doesn’t say what happens if the secretary is fired.
It’s unsettled legal territory, but some scholars say
it could open the door to challenging decisions made by the person
Trump appointed as acting VA secretary, Robert Wilkie (an official in
the Department of Defense). The argument would be that Wilkie lacked
proper authority to make the decisions in question, the scholars say.
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Source: ProPublica
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