VA whistleblowers: Retaliation is getting worse, not better

Whistleblowers who have been in their share of battles with the Department of Veterans Affairs under the Obama administration say retaliation is getting worse under President Trump, despite Trump's assurances in April that he was taking steps to protect employees who point out problems at the troubled agency.

Several whistleblowers and sources with experience investigating the VA told the Washington Examiner that while Trump seems to want to fix the broken VA, his goals, including whistleblower protection, are largely being ignored by the VA.

"The VA's going after these guys with a vengeance," said Eric Hannel, former staff director for the House Veterans' Affairs subcommittee on oversight and investigations, who is still in contact with whistleblowers around the country.

Hannel and other whistleblowers also have dim hopes for a new office established by an executive order Trump signed in April. They say that while the office is clearly aimed at helping whistleblowers, there are signs the VA may actually start using it to target them for retaliation.

"I'd have to say that VA's new Office of Accountability and Whistleblower Protection is nothing but hollow promises made to convince whistleblowers to step forward so VA can aggressively pursue them," Hannel said. "VA must properly address this retaliatory behavior or it will continue to have a shortfall of physicians as established physicians will leave and new physicians will not join VA's corrosive culture."