Former U.S. Veterans Affairs Secretary David Shulkin, MD, denied claims made by the White House that he voluntarily resigned from his position, according to NBC News.
President Donald Trump announced his intent to nominate White House physician Rear Adm. Ronny Jackson, MD, to VA secretary in a March 29 tweet. However, a White House spokesperson told Politico March 31, "Secretary Shulkin resigned from his position as Secretary of the Department of Veterans Affairs."
During an interview April 1 on CBS' "Meet the Press" television program, Dr. Shulkin denied claims he resigned.
"I came to fight for our veterans and I had no intention of giving up," he said. "There would be no reason for me to resign. I made a commitment, I took an oath and I was here to fight for our veterans."
Dr. Shulkin revealed on the program he found out about his termination during a phone call with White House Chief of Staff John Kelly shortly before President Trump tweeted the news.
"[Mr. Kelly] just simply said that the president had decided that he needed to make a change," Dr. Shulkin said, adding he had spoken with President Trump mere hours before his tweet. President Trump reportedly did not give any indication Dr. Shulkin would be fired, according to the report.
"We talked a lot about issues at the VA that were important and how we could continue to make progress on policy issues. In fact, we had set up a meeting for the very next day where I was going to meet with him at 11 in the morning," Dr. Shulkin said.
In an op-ed for The New York Times, Dr. Shulkin said political infighting between himself and other Trump appointees did occur during his tenure, and he admitted to limiting their access as their disagreements became more pronounced.
"When the political appointees decided that they were no longer going to participate as an effective member of my team, when they had memos showing that they wanted to have me removed, my deputy secretary removed, my chief of staff removed, of course I limited access to those people," he wrote. "They no longer were willing to be working effectively with us in a way to improve care for veterans."
Dr. Shulkin said during "Meet the Press" while the president's decision came as "somewhat of a surprise," he had full authority to make that decision.
"The president has the right and ability to change his mind," Dr. Shulkin said. "And he needs to have people around him that he's comfortable with, and he made the decision to make a change."