川普总统更换退伍军人事务部部长

President Donald Trump’s reshuffling of his Cabinet continued Wednesday with the ouster of Department of Veterans Affairs Secretary David Shulkin.

"I am pleased to announce that I intend to nominate highly respected Admiral Ronny Jackson, MD, as the new Secretary of Veterans Affairs," the president tweeted. "In the interim, Hon. Robert Wilkie of DOD will serve as Acting Secretary. I am thankful for Dr. David Shulkin’s service to our country and to our GREAT VETERANS!"

The now-former Veterans Affairs secretary will be replaced by Jackson, Trump’s current presidential physician who performed his most recent physical examination. Jackson was appointed to that position in 2013 by former President Barack Obama and was retained by Trump.

Shulkin, also a holdover from the Obama era, served as the head of the nation’s second-largest government agency for little more than a year. He had been locked for months in a power struggle with a group of Trump political appointees among his senior staff who wanted him out.

Shulkin had pledged the VA would not be privatized on his watch but would provide veterans expanded opportunities to get private-sector care. White House political appointees want a more comprehensive overhaul and to give veterans even more access to VA-funded care in the private sector.