Fired V.A. secretary Shulkin: 'It should not be this hard to serve your country'

Former Veterans Affairs Secretary David Shulkin does not appear to be happy about his sudden firing Wednesday evening.

In a New York Times op-ed published Wednesday night, Shulkin praised his own record in office while lamenting the challenges of serving in President Trump’s administration.

“As I prepare to leave government, I am struck by a recurring thought: It should not be this hard to serve your country,” he wrote.

Shulkin said he was under pressure by forces in the Trump administration that want to privatize his now-former agency. He dismissed privatization as a “terrible idea.”

“They saw me as an obstacle to privatization who had to be removed,” he wrote, without naming his critics. “That is because I am convinced that privatization is a political issue aimed at rewarding select people and companies with profits, even if it undermines care for veterans.”

But Shulkin’s op-ed papers over his controversies in office. Shulkin, who was appointed undersecretary at the V.A. by President Barack Obama, was one of several Trump Cabinet officials who landed in hot water for alleged misuse of taxpayer dollars. A February report by the V.A.’s internal watchdog found that Shulkin improperly accepted tickets to the Wimbledon tennis tournament and that he used department resources for “planning leisure activities” while in Europe with his wife. That trip to Europe cost the V.A. at least $122,334, the watchdog found.