Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Inspector General Has Launched Probe Of Allegations That VA Secretary Sought Damaging Info On Staffer
ProPublica: VA Secretary Under Investigation After Complaint He Looked For Dirt On A House Staffer Who Said She’d Been Assaulted
The inspector general for the Department of Veterans Affairs is investigating allegations that Secretary Robert Wilkie sought damaging information to discredit a congressional staffer who said she was sexually assaulted in a VA hospital. The allegations, first reported by ProPublica, were raised in an anonymous complaint to the committee that the staffer works for. A former senior official and another person familiar with the matter, who both spoke to ProPublica on the condition of anonymity, described meetings between Wilkie and his senior staff in which he discussed information he had collected about the staffer’s past and suggested using it to discredit her. (Arnsdorf, 2/27)
