Associated Press
President Donald Trump shakes hands with Acting Veterans Affairs Secretary Robert Wilkie at the White House, May 18, 2018.
- Veterans Affairs Secretary Robert Wilkie is accused of trying to dig up dirt on a House staffer who filed a sexual-assault claim over an incident at a VA facility last year.
- The latest allegations came just days after the firing of the VA's deputy secretary, which Wilkie denied had anything to do with the handling of the assault claim.
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Days after Veterans Affairs Secretary Robert Wilkie denied the VA deputy secretary was fired over the handling of a sexual-assault claim last year, Wilkie himself was accused of trying to dig up dirt on the woman veteran who made the claim.
On Feb. 3, VA Deputy Secretary James Byrne was fired just five months after his Senate confirmation over what Wilkie called "loss of confidence in Mr. Byrne's ability to carry out his duties."
The firing came amid a dispute over a sexual-assault claim made by Navy Reserve Lt. Andrea Goldstein, a House Veterans Affairs Committee staffer, who said a man slammed his body into hers and made lewd comments at a VA facility in Washington, DC, in September.
At the National Press Club on Wednesday, Wilkie said it was "categorically not true" that Byrne's firing was related to the Goldstein case and that "there was no disagreement" between them over its handling.
Wilkie said he wished Byrne well and called the former Marine officer "a man of great distinction." When pressed, Wilkie said the firing "was just a question of not jelling with other members of the team, something that happens in business [and] in the military," but did not elaborate on why Byrne wasn't fitting in.
On Friday, however, ProPublica reported that Wilkie had sought damaging information about Goldstein, citing a former senior official with direct knowledge of the matter as saying Wilkie discussed damaging information he gathered about Goldstein and suggested using it to discredit her.
Rep. Mark Takano, House Veterans Affairs Committee chairman and Goldstein's boss, asked the VA inspector general to review the allegation against Wilkie after getting information from a senior VA official, according to The Washington Post.
Wilkie and his office denied the allegation in statements to ProPublica and The Post.
The State of the VA
Wilkie's remarks on Wednesday came during his State of the VA address, in which he touted his department's advances and its success in improving service to US military veterans.
Some of the details he shared are below.