DAVID SHULKIN/TRUMP PEOPLE/VA: “Former Veterans Affairs Secretary David Shulkin used an op-ed late Wednesday [3-28-18] to blast ‘the environment in Washington’ that ‘has turned so toxic, chaotic, disrespectful and subversive that it became impossible for me to accomplish the important work’ of his job. ‘As I prepare to leave government,’ he wrote in an op-ed for The New York Times, ‘I am struck by a reoccurring thought: It should not be this hard to serve your country…’ Shulkin, the second member of Trump’s Cabinet to be ousted this month, did not address the controversy over his travel practices. A damning report from the department’s inspector general found ‘serious derelictions’ by Shulkin and senior VA officials on a Europe trip last year. The report concluded that Shulkin had spent a good deal of the trip sightseeing and had inappropriately accepted a gift of Wimbledon tickets.”
–Steve Brusk and Maegan Vazquez,Shulkin blasts ‘toxic, chaotic, disrespectful’ Washington in farewell op-ed,” CNN Politics, CNN.com, Mar. 29, 2018 9:04am