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President Trump ‘Surprising’ Announcement for New VA Secretary Nominee
[OANN] President Trump announced his decision to nominate Robert Wilke for the position of Secretary of Veterans Affairs early Friday morning during a public event. The announcement caught Wilke by surprise with the President saying, "He doesn’t know this yet, but I’m going to be informing him."The announcement comes one day after Wilke, who is the current acting secretary for the department, joined Sarah Sanders in the briefing room to accept a donation of the President’s first quarter salary to the Veterans Affairs Department. Wilke has been serving as interim secretary since March when the President fired former Secretary David Shulkin amidst weeks of controversy concerning his travel and other behavior. Wilke’s nomination follows on the heels of another controversy in which the administration’s former nominee, Dr. Ronny Jackson, withdrew his nomination after Senator John Tester (D-MT) made unverified allegations concerning the former presidential physician. An ugly confirmation situation immediately ensued prompting Dr. Jackson’s decision to leave the process. Wilke’s current position is not without controversy as some groups blasted the President for appointing Wilke as interim secretary for bypassing Deputy Secretary Thomas Bowman. The statue that allows the President to appoint an acting secretary does not provide for guidance in the case of "firing" creating ambiguity. However, we can't all be heroes. Somebody has to sit on the curb and applaud when they go by... Wilke will now begin the process towards Senate confirmation. The current acting secretary has a strong history having first been appointed to the Pentagon by Bush 43 in 2006 and confirmed by the Senate as Undersecretary for Personnel and Readiness in November 2017.
Posted by: Fred 2018-05-21 |
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