{"id":58850,"date":"2018-02-15T04:46:38","date_gmt":"2018-02-15T04:46:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.biphoo.com\/bipnews\/?p=58850"},"modified":"2018-02-15T04:48:19","modified_gmt":"2018-02-15T04:48:19","slug":"report-faults-v-a-secretary-shulkin-over-travel-to-europe","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.biphoo.com\/bipnews\/news\/report-faults-v-a-secretary-shulkin-over-travel-to-europe.html","title":{"rendered":"Report Faults V.A. Secretary Shulkin Over Travel to Europe"},"content":{"rendered":"

Report Faults V.A. Secretary Shulkin Over Travel to Europe<\/span><\/strong><\/span><\/h2>\n

A scathing report released Wednesday found \u201cserious derelictions\u201d in a 10-day, $122,000 business trip the secretary of veterans affairs took to Europe, which included airfare for his wife and extensive sightseeing.<\/span><\/p>\n

According to the report, Secretary David J. Shulkin traveled to Denmark and London for meetings about health care for veterans, accompanied by his wife, a small staff and a six-person security detail, but nearly half of his time was spent visiting castles and other tourist sites.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThis was time that should have been spent conducting official V.A. business and not providing personal travel concierge services to Secretary Shulkin and his wife,\u201d Inspector General Michael J. Missal concluded in the report.<\/span><\/p>\n

To justify paying for the secretary\u2019s wife\u2019s $4,000 airfare, the report said, the department\u2019s chief of staff altered an email to indicate that Dr. Shulkin and his wife had been specifically invited to an honorary dinner in Denmark, when in fact they had not.<\/span><\/p>\n

While the couple were in London, the report found, they improperly accepted tickets to a tennis match at Wimbledon.<\/span><\/p>\n

Dr. Shulkin is one of several cabinet secretaries to be accused of lavish spending on travel. Tom Price was dismissed as secretary of health and human services over his use of private jets.<\/span><\/p>\n

Within hours of the report\u2019s release, a few Republican lawmakers were calling for Dr. Shulkin to resign. But others in Congress and at influential veterans\u2019 organizations stopped short of that, condemning misuse of funds but reaffirming their support for the secretary.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cA lot of them don\u2019t know what to do \u2014 they may want him to go, but who would replace him?\u201d said Paul Rieckhoff, founder of Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America. \u201cWhat they get in his place may be very disruptive.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

The Department of Veterans Affairs offered only a brief defense of Dr. Shulkin\u2019s trip on Wednesday, saying in a statement: \u201cAs Secretary Shulkin points out, he travels far less than any recent V.A. secretary, takes no private jets, and was the first cabinet secretary to post details of his travel online for all to see. That said, accountability and transparency are important values at V.A. under President Trump.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

But Dr. Shulkin personally pushed back hard against the findings.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThe report is not accurate, not objective,\u201d he said in an interview on Wednesday. \u201cI was horrified when I saw the way the investigator conducted himself, leading the witness with his own interpretation and the bias.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

He said the department usually has weeks to review and respond to reports, but he had only two working days.<\/span><\/p>\n

In an unusual 28-page rebuttal attached to the report by his lawyers, Dr. Shulkin included findings from an independent ethics expert, affidavits from witnesses who contradicted the report, and transcripts of interviews conducted by the investigators that the lawyers said showed bias.<\/span><\/p>\n

The department\u2019s chief of staff, Vivieca Wright Simpson, also disputed the findings.<\/span><\/p>\n

The report found that in seeking approval for the secretary\u2019s wife, Dr. Merle Bari, to take the trip at public expense, Ms. Wright Simpson misrepresented to the department\u2019s ethics office that a planned \u201cspecial recognition dinner\u201d was definite. \u201cMs. Wright Simpson\u2019s false representations and alteration of an official record may have violated federal criminal statutes,\u201d the report said, adding that the inspector general had referred the matter to the Justice Department for possible prosecution. The department declined to prosecute.<\/span><\/p>\n

Ms. Wright Simpson said in an interview on Wednesday that the dinner she mentioned in the email had in fact taken place. She said she was not given any chance to see the inspector general\u2019s report or respond to it before its release, despite requests through her lawyer.<\/span><\/p>\n

The report said the secretary and his wife improperly accepted the Wimbledon tickets from Victoria Gosling, an organizer of the 2016 Invictus Games, which brought together wounded veterans for competition. The tickets\u2019 face price was about $350, but their resale value, according to the report, was about $3,500.<\/span><\/p>\n

Accepting such a gift violated ethics standards, according to the report. It recommended that the secretary repay the cost of the tickets and reimburse the government for his wife\u2019s travel.<\/span><\/p>\n

Dr. Shulkin said he would comply with recommendations, but maintained that he had done nothing improper. He said Ms. Gosling was a personal friend who offered the couple her sister\u2019s unused tickets, and that there was nothing unethical in accepting them.<\/span><\/p>\n

He said Ms. Wright Simpson\u2019s conduct will be investigated, \u201cand if it reveals she did something wrong, we will take action.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

The members of Congress in charge of the committees that oversee the department \u2014 Senators Johnny Isakson of Georgia and Jon Tester of Montana, and Representatives Phil Roe of Tennessee and Tim Walz of Minnesota \u2014 issued a joint statement expressing disappointment at the allegations detailed in the report.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWe believe that public officials must be held to a higher standard, and whether intentional or not, misusing taxpayer dollars is unacceptable,\u201d they said in the statement. \u201cWe\u2019re counting on Dr. Shulkin to actively address all of the allegations outlined in this report.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Source:-\u00a0https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2018\/02\/14\/us\/veterans-affairs-shulkin.html?rref=collection%2Fsectioncollection%2Fus&action=click&contentCollection=us&region=rank&module=package&version=highlights&contentPlacement=2&pgtype=sectionfront<\/span><\/p>\n

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