VA Secretary David Shulkin's top PR aide asked Congress to help get him fired
Source: USA Today
Donovan Slack, USA TODAY Published 3:42 p.m. ET Feb. 28, 2018 | Updated 5:03 p.m. ET Feb. 28, 2018
WASHINGTON — One of the top deputies to VA Secretary David Shulkin has actively lobbied Capitol Hill to demand his boss’s resignation, according to two people with knowledge of the effort.
John Ullyot, the VA's assistant secretary for public affairs, asked a senior aide at the House Committee on Veterans Affairs to persuade lawmakers to call the White House and say they wanted Shulkin out, said both individuals, who spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitive nature of the situation.
The move was unsuccessful — but audacious since Ullyot is the secretary’s highest ranking aide tasked with publicly defending him and the agency. It is also the most striking evidence to date that some of Shulkin's own staff are trying to oust him.
Ullyot denies it happened. But the two sources said he made the request in a call initiated by VA Press Secretary Curt Cashour on Feb. 15, the day after the release of an inspector general’s report that concluded Shulkin had misused taxpayer dollars during a European trip last year.
Read more: https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2018/02/28/va-secretary-david-shulkins-top-pr-aide-lobbied-congress-get-him-fired-sources-say/380726002/
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