Democrats for the block.
President Donald Trump announced Friday his intent to nominate Robert Wilkie as the next secretary for the Department of Veterans Affairs. Wilkie has been serving in the role in an interim basis since March 28.
Trump made the surprise announcement Friday morning at the White House during a public speech about prisons and the criminal justice system. He said Wilkie, who was in the audience, has done an “incredible job” at the VA.
“I’ll be informing him in a little while – he doesn’t know this yet – that we’re going to be putting his name up for nomination to be secretary of the veterans administration,” Trump said.
“I’m sorry that I ruined the surprise.”
Trump’s previous nominee for the job – White House physician Ronny Jackson – withdrew from consideration April 26. His nomination quickly fell apart after unnamed coworkers alleged Jackson was a toxic leader, drank on the job and doled out controlled substances.
Following Jackson’s failed nomination, Trump said he had another candidate in mind – someone with “political capabilities.”
Wilkie was rumored to be among possible picksfor the past several weeks. Others included Rep. Brian Mast, R-Fla., former Rep. Jeff Miller, R-Fla., and White House Chief of Staff John Kelly.
Trump chose Wilkie to temporarily lead the VA after he fired former VA Secretary David Shulkin in March. Wilkie came to the VA from the Pentagon, where he worked as the undersecretary of personnel and readiness.
Wilkie is a former adviser to Sen. Thom Tillis, R-N.C., a member of the Senate Veterans’ Affairs Committee.
“Robert holds pragmatic and common-sense views on modernizing the agency and upholding its core mission of providing veterans with the best health care, resources and support possible,” Tillis said in a prepared statement.
Wilkie served as an officer in the Navy and Air Force before working as a senior leader at the Pentagon under former secretaries of defense Robert Gates and Donald Rumsfeld. His father was an Army artillery commander.