{"id":13871,"date":"2018-03-30T13:01:36","date_gmt":"2018-03-30T13:01:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/airforcetimes\/uncategorized\/2018\/03\/30\/what-weve-learned-from-david-shulkins-post-firing-media-blitz\/"},"modified":"2026-08-08T01:45:02","modified_gmt":"2026-08-08T01:45:02","slug":"what-weve-learned-from-david-shulkins-post-firing-media-blitz","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/airforcetimes\/veterans\/2018\/03\/30\/what-weve-learned-from-david-shulkins-post-firing-media-blitz\/","title":{"rendered":"What we\u2019ve learned from David Shulkin\u2019s post-firing media blitz"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">WASHINGTON \u2014 In the first 36 hours after he was <a href=\"https:\/\/www.militarytimes.com\/veterans\/2018\/03\/28\/shulkin-out-trump-fires-va-secretary-after-weeks-of-controversy\/\" title=\"\" class=\"\" target=\"_blank\">fired by President Donald Trump via Twitter<\/a>, former Veterans Affairs Secretary David Shulkin <a href=\"https:\/\/www.militarytimes.com\/veterans\/2018\/03\/29\/outgoing-va-secretary-shulkin-lashes-out-at-white-house-officials-looking-to-privatize-veterans-care\/\" title=\"\" class=\"\" target=\"_blank\">penned a lengthy op-ed for the New York Times<\/a>, had interviews with six national television shows and \u201cpublicly vowed to continue to speak out against those who seek to harm the VA.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Among the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.militarytimes.com\/news\/2018\/03\/13\/tillerson-out-at-state-to-be-replaced-by-cia-chief-pompeo\/\" title=\"\" class=\"\" target=\"_blank\">high-profile dismissals<\/a> in the Trump administration in recent months, that makes him an outlier. Most, including former Cabinet secretaries Tom Price and Rex Tillerson, have stayed out of the spotlight in their post-government lives.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">But Shulkin during his tenure was far less camera shy than many in Trump\u2019s leadership team, hosting several White House press conferences on veterans issues and often engaging with beat reporters with little oversight or input from his communications team. That approach, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.militarytimes.com\/veterans\/2018\/02\/18\/who-is-in-charge-at-the-department-of-veterans-affairs\/\" title=\"\" class=\"\" target=\"_blank\">which caused friction with other administration officials in recent weeks<\/a>, appears to be continuing now.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Here\u2019s what we\u2019ve learned so far from Shulkin\u2019s media blitz:<\/p>\n\n\n\t<aside class=\"smg-interstitial-link wp-block-smg-interstitial-link\">\n\t\t<a href=\"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/militarytimes\/veterans\/2018\/03\/28\/shulkin-out-trump-fires-va-secretary-after-weeks-of-controversy\/\" class=\"smg-interstitial-link__inner\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"smg-interstitial-link__media\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"300\" height=\"212\" src=\"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/AP_18080702094696.jpg.jpg?w=300\" class=\"smg-interstitial-link__image wp-post-image\" alt=\"\" \/>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"smg-interstitial-link__content\">\n\t\t\t\t<span class=\"smg-interstitial-link__kicker\">Related<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t<h3 class=\"smg-interstitial-link__title\">Shulkin out: Trump fires VA secretary after weeks of controversy<\/h3>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<p class=\"smg-interstitial-link__excerpt\">Shulkin, once seen as among Trump&#039;s least controversial Cabinet officials, had drawn criticism in recent weeks for his handling of a travel scandal.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/a>\n\t<\/aside>\n\t\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><b>** He\u2019s still angry at political opponents in the White House<\/b><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In nearly every appearance, Shulkin blamed his firing largely on political operatives within the administration who are pushing for increased private-sector medical care access for veterans.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">During his tenure, Shulkin bristled at accusations that his policies amounted to \u201cprivatization\u201d of VA services. Now, he is freely using the term to attack those opponents.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cA number of political appointees within VA are pushing to privatize much faster than I think is in the interest of veterans and is the safe way to care for our veterans,\u201d Shulkin said during a<a href=\"http:\/\/www.foxnews.com\/politics\/2018\/03\/29\/fired-va-secretary-shulkin-trump-wasnt-happy-with-slow-improvements-and-neither-am.html\" title=\"\" class=\"\" target=\"_blank\"> Fox News appearance<\/a> on Thursday evening. \u201cI\u2019ve stood up to them because I was in Washington and I was working for the president on behalf of our veterans.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><b>** He isn\u2019t attacking the president<\/b><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Shulkin has several complaints about how he was treated by Trump \u2014 he said in an MSNBC interview that the president spoke with him hours before his firing and didn\u2019t hint at any problems \u2014 but he has also been muted in directly criticizing the commander-in-chief.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In a PBS interview Thursday, Shulkin said that while he was disappointed in Trump\u2019s decision, he blamed it on poor communication and misdirection from other officials.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cI think that the political chaos just got to be so much, that the president felt that he needed to go in a different direction,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In nearly every appearance, Shulkin said he remains convinced that Trump is dedicated to reforming VA, and upset he couldn\u2019t get it done during his time leading the administration.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><b>** He is offering support for his replacement<\/b><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">While the president\u2019s choice for the next VA Secretary \u2014 Rear Adm. Ronny Jackson, the current White House physician \u2014 has drawn surprise and concern from many on Capitol Hill, Shulkin isn\u2019t among the critics.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Shulkin, who is also a practicing physician, said he has worked closely with Jackson in the past and praised him as \u201can honorable man\u201d and \u201ca great patriot.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cThis is a tough job, and I think anyone who is going to step in is going to need a lot of help to get it done,\u201d he said on <a href=\"http:\/\/abcnews.go.com\/GMA\/News\/video\/fired-veterans-affairs-secretary-speaks-54119306\" title=\"\" class=\"\" target=\"_blank\">ABC\u2019s Good Morning America<\/a> on Friday. \u201cAnd I\u2019ll do everything I can to make sure he succeeds.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">But, during his PBS appearance, Shulkin confirmed that he has never spoken with Jackson about \u201chis policy or political issues\u201d concerning VA.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><b>** He isn\u2019t sorry about his travel scandal<\/b><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Shulkin has repeatedly complained that the 10-day European trip that was the subject of a<a href=\"https:\/\/www.militarytimes.com\/veterans\/2018\/02\/14\/report-blasts-va-secretary-for-improper-gifts-and-travel-lying-to-cover-up-scandal\/\" title=\"\" class=\"\" target=\"_blank\"> scathing inspector general investigation<\/a> has been exaggerated and mischaracterized, and he intends to continue speaking out on that issue too.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cThere was nothing improper about this trip,\u201d he told NPR on Wednesday. \u201cAnd I was not allowed to put up an official statement or to even respond to this by the White House, who told me that they didn\u2019t want me responding. So I think that this was really just being used in a political context to try to make sure that I wasn\u2019t as effective as a leader moving forward.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Shulkin told <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cnn.com\/videos\/politics\/2018\/03\/29\/david-shulkin-veterans-affairs-replacement-ronny-jackson-sot-ac.cnn\" title=\"\" class=\"\" target=\"_blank\">CNN on Thursday night<\/a> that the entire trip, including using taxpayer funds for his wife\u2019s airfare and accepting Wimbledon tennis tickets from an English businesswoman \u201cwas all pre-approved \u2026 and when the inspector general six months later had concerns, I wrote a check to the government.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The former VA secretary did refund the money, but only after the full report was released. And investigators have disputed Shulkin\u2019s claims of clearances from the ethics office, saying those officials reviewed only a small portion of the trip itinerary, and were given incorrect information.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-rich is-provider-twitter wp-block-embed-twitter\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"500\" data-dnt=\"true\"><p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Fmr. VA Secy. Shulkin tells <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/chrislhayes?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">@chrislhayes<\/a> Pres. Trump made no mention of firing him during a phone call yesterday, then fired him via tweet <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/hashtag\/inners?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">#inners<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/VMftt6jVAG\">pic.twitter.com\/VMftt6jVAG<\/a><\/p>&mdash; All In with Chris Hayes (@allinwithchris) <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/allinwithchris\/status\/979513629346234368?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">March 30, 2018<\/a><\/blockquote><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.x.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>In the 36 hours since he was fired, the former VA Secretary has had multiple high-profile appearances to talk about problems he sees in the VA department.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":29798,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_yoast_wpseo_meta-robots-noindex":"","_yoast_wpseo_meta-robots-nofollow":"","_yoast_wpseo_canonical":"","_acf":"","_yoast_wpseo_primary_category":21,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","_smg_distribution_targets":[]},"categories":[101,16,26,21],"tags":[],"coauthors":[3328],"class_list":["post-13871","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-daily-news-roundup","category-news","category-newsletters","category-veterans"],"acf":{"subheadline":"","legacy_arc_id":"4ATKN3ZETNGX5PLYK2RKLS3LZA","arc_canonical_url":"\/veterans\/2018\/03\/30\/what-weve-learned-from-david-shulkins-post-firing-media-blitz\/","remove_feature_photo":false,"is_sponsored":false,"subtype":"","redirect_url":"","disable_inline_ads":false,"native_logo_pretext":"Presented By:"},"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v26.0 (Yoast SEO v28.1) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-premium-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>What we\u2019ve learned from David Shulkin\u2019s post-firing media blitz - Air Force TImes<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"In the 36 hours since he was fired, the former VA Secretary has had multiple high-profile appearances to talk about problems he sees in the VA department.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"noindex, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"What we\u2019ve learned from David Shulkin\u2019s post-firing media blitz\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"In the 36 hours since he was fired, the former VA Secretary has had multiple high-profile appearances to talk about problems he sees 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