Tag: Trump VA

Trump’s Mar-a-Lago buddy used his ‘shadow’ sway over the VA to promote his comic book empire

AlterNet logoTwo and a half years ago, top officials from the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs rang the closing bell of the New York Stock Exchange. Standing on the podium with them was a cheering, flexing Captain America. Spider-Man waved from the trading floor below.

The event had been billed as a suicide prevention awareness campaign. No one could figure out what the Marvel characters were doing there. David Shulkin, the VA secretary at the time, said in a memoir about his tenure that he was as surprised as anyone.

The answer, it turns out, lies with the sweeping influence over the VA that President Donald Trump gave to one of his biggest donors, Marvel Entertainment chairman Ike Perlmutter. Continue reading.

Mar-a-Lago Pal Sent Policy Pitch — And Trump Forwarded To VA Chief

In late 2017, on one of President Donald Trump’s retreats to Mar-a-Lago, his private club in Palm Beach, Florida, he caught up with an old friend: Albert Hazzouri.

When Hazzouri is not at Mar-a-Lago, he’s a cosmetic dentist in Scranton, Pennsylvania. At a campaign rally there in 2016, Trump gave him a shoutout: “Stand up, Albert. Where the hell are you, Albert? Stand up, Albert. He’s a good golfer, but I’m actually a better golfer than him. Right?”

Shortly after Hazzouri and Trump saw each other in late 2017, Hazzouri followed up with a message, scrawled on Mar-a-Lago stationery. Here’s the letter: Continue reading “Mar-a-Lago Pal Sent Policy Pitch — And Trump Forwarded To VA Chief”

THE REAL STATE OF THE UNION: Veteran: ‘I Shouldn’t Have To Stress Over Something That I Worked For And Risked My Life For’

Take a break from Trump and hear from regular Americans about the real state of our Union. Watch veteran Shaye Washington talk about how delays at Trump’s VA prevented her from getting the benefits she needed and deserved.

“I’ve been deployed and been through war, so I feel like I shouldn’t have to stress over something that I worked for and risked my life for.” – Veteran Shaye Washington

WATCH HERE

THE REAL STATE OF THE UNION: Person Who Works With Wounded Veteran Students: ‘It’s Live Or Die For Them’

Take a break from Trump and hear from regular Americans about the real state of our Union. Watch Garrett Anderson, who works with wounded veterans in higher education, talk about how veterans are struggling to get by after not receiving the GI Bill benefits they deserve due to delays at Trump’s VA.

“It’s live or die for them, if they’re not getting those payments, which I’m not really sure why the federal government or the GI Bill benefits aren’t receiving these payments.” – Garrett Anderson, Chez Center for Wounded Veterans in Higher Education

WATCH HERE

Trump Loyalist at VA Pushed Out After Being Paid to Do Little Work: WaPo

A Trump loyalist and “rising star” in the Department of Veterans Affairs was forced out last week after it became clear he was doing “little to no work” despite being on the payroll, The Washington Post reports. Secretary Robert Wilkie reportedly asked for Peter O’Rourke’s resignation on Friday after he rarely showed up to his office. In an interview with the Post, O’Rourke said he was “available for anything the secretary asked me to do” but said, “there were times I didn’t have a lot to do.”

O’Rourke reportedly led the office in charge of handling whistleblower complaints before getting bumped up to the chief of staff position and serving as the VA’s acting secretary for two months. But when Secretary Wilkie arrived, he reportedly attempted to sideline O’Rourke and pushed him into a “senior adviser to the secretary” position with a salary as high as $161,000. White House officials reportedly started getting concerned that O’Rourke was “getting paid but not working,” which went against President Trump’s vision of enforcing greater accountability at the VA. “I’d be more than happy to serve again,” O’Rourke told the newspaper, adding that he “does not hold any grudges” after his dismissal.

The White House and the VA have yet to comment on the matter.

View the post on the Daily Beast website here.

Democrats Vow Investigation of VA’s Shadow Rulers After ProPublica Story

The following article by Isaac Arnsdorf was posted on the ProPublica website August 8, 2018:

“This situation reeks of corruption and cronyism,” said the top Democrat on the House veterans committee.

Rep. Tim Walz sent a letter demanding that the VA hand over all records of contacts between agency officials and three men who have had vast influence over Trump administration policy on veterans. Credit: Bill Clark, Roll Call

Update, Aug. 10, 2018: Sens. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., and Brian Schatz, D-Hawaii, formally requested investigations by the VA Inspector General and the Government Accountability Office. Sen. Tammy Duckworth, D-Ill., called on the VA secretary to cut ties with the Mar-a-Lago Crowd and remove their allies in the agency.

Democratic lawmakers said they will investigate how three outsiders have been shaping policy and personnel at the Department of Veterans Affairs. A ProPublica investigationTuesday revealed the vast influence of the trio, who often meet at President Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago club.

Tim Walz, the ranking Democrat on the House Veterans’ Affairs Committee, sent a letter to the agency’s new secretary demanding that the VA hand over all records of contacts between agency officials and the three men, who are sometimes referred to as the “Mar-a-Lago Crowd.” Continue reading “Democrats Vow Investigation of VA’s Shadow Rulers After ProPublica Story”