Hi there,

The climate crisis, war, attacks on reproductive rights, book bans—these threats aren't looming. They are here now. If you think Democracy Now!'s reporting on these issues is essential, please sign up for a monthly gift of $10 or more. Right now, a generous donor will DOUBLE your gift, making your donation twice as valuable. We don't have a paywall or run ads, which means we’re not brought to you by the oil, gas, coal, or nuclear companies when we cover the climate catastrophe or by the weapons manufacturers when we cover war. Democracy Now! is funded by you and that’s why we need your help today. This is a challenging year for news organizations and nonprofits across the board, so please don’t close this window before making your gift. We're counting on you more than ever to sustain our reporting. Start your monthly donation of $10 or more right now and help Democracy Now! stay strong and independent all year round. Thank you so much.
-Amy Goodman

Non-commercial news needs your support.

We rely on contributions from you, our viewers and listeners to do our work. If you visit us daily or weekly or even just once a month, now is a great time to make your monthly contribution.

Please do your part today.

Donate

Ousted VA Chief Says Trump Fired Him over Privatization Push

HeadlineApr 02, 2018

Former U.S. Veterans Affairs Secretary David Shulkin said Sunday he was fired unexpectedly by President Trump—directly contradicting claims by the White House that he resigned, which would determine who would temporarily succeed him. This is David Shulkin, speaking on NBC’s “Meet the Press.”

David Shulkin: “I came to fight for our veterans, and I had no intention of giving up. There would be no reason for me to resign. I made a commitment, I took an oath, and I was here to fight for our veterans.”

David Shulkin has been speaking out on many networks in a move not seen by other Trump officials who have been ousted. Shulkin says he was fired over his opposition to privatizing the VA—an effort that’s been led by a group called Concerned Veterans for America, which is funded by the billionaire conservative Koch brothers. President Trump has nominated White House physician Dr. Ronny Jackson to replace Shulkin, while appointing Pentagon official Robert Wilkie as acting head of the VA. But legal experts say that if Shulkin was fired, Trump’s move may have violated federal law, by bypassing Shulkin’s deputy, who was next in line to succeed him.

The original content of this program is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License. Please attribute legal copies of this work to democracynow.org. Some of the work(s) that this program incorporates, however, may be separately licensed. For further information or additional permissions, contact us.

Non-commercial news needs your support

We rely on contributions from our viewers and listeners to do our work.
Please do your part today.
Make a donation
Top