Well well, another week, another story of severe tax abuse by none other than the head of Veterans Affairs himself. According to a hard-hitting expose in the Washington Post, David Shulkin helped his staff; his wife, and their aides forge documents to make it look like they were meeting with Danish officials.
Unfortunately for Shulkin, the office of the Inspector General was the first to uncover the abuse of taxpayers money. Shulkin’s wife, Merle Bari, cost taxpayers $4,312, according to CNN. Shulkin’s chief of staff, Vivieca Wright Simpson apparently altered an e-mail to make it look like it was to Danish government officials, but, that wasn’t the case. Not surprisingly, she now denies she remembers ever altering an e-mail.
Even more interesting, Shulkin was caught accepting improper gifts. Among them, the Inspector General found that he accepted Wimbledon Tickets and ordered a staff aide to “act as a personal travel concierge”.
Of the 10 day European trip, only four days were actually used to meet with British and Danish officials. The rest of the vacation was quietly used for Shulkin’s wife to sight-see. The kicker? Per the Post, The Justice Department decided not to purse the allegations or potential charges.
Shulkin is now the fifth Trump administration official to be investigated for abusing their travel expenses, and, spending taxpayer money improperly .
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