VA Secretary Shulkin Slammed By Investigation For Wife’s Taxpayer-Funded Travel

By Nathan Guttman February 14, 2018

Veterans Affairs Secretary David Shulkin was criticized by an internal department investigation over his wife’s taxpayer-funded European travel.

The report criticizes, which was first revealed by The Washington Post, his conduct and reveals an attempt by Shulkin’s senior staff to cover up and mislead investigators probing the $4,300 airfare cost.

According to the report, Shulkin’s chief of staff, Vivieca Wright Simpson, doctored an email in order to make it seem as if Shulkin travelled to Europe in order to receive an award from the Danish government, thus justifying the need for including his wife on the trip.

Criticism in the report reaches Shulkin himself. He is accused of improperly receiving tickets to the Wimbledon tennis tournament worth thousands of dollars during his European trip last year. Shulkin also allegedly asked an aide who was in charge of coordinating the trip to act as a “personal travel concierge.”

Shulkin called the Inspector General’s report “outrageous” and said it “reeks of an agenda.”

Contact Nathan Guttman at [email protected] or on Twitter @nathanguttman

Nathan Guttman, staff writer, was the Forward’s Washington bureau chief. He joined the staff in 2006 after serving for five years as Washington correspondent for the Israeli dailies Haaretz and The Jerusalem Post. In Israel, he was the features editor for Ha’aretz and chief editor of Channel 1 TV evening news. He was born in Canada and grew up in Israel. He is a graduate of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem.

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