Department of Veterans Affairs officials may be misleading members of President-elect Trump's transition team about the health of the agency amid a push by some outside veterans service organizations to convince Trump to keep VA Secretary Robert McDonald in his Cabinet, sources with knowledge of the situation say.
"The VA is trying to paint a much rosier picture of the state of affairs ... for the transition team than is reality," one source told the Washington Examiner.
Another source close to the "landing team" Trump sent to the VA said transition officials had received an anonymous tip from a whistleblower warning that some of the information they had been given by the agency was misleading.
The VA rejected suggestions that officials had spun the statistics provided to Trump's transition team.
"VA staff have engaged in clear, candid conversations with the transition team and continue to do so every day," the agency said in a statement provided for this story. "Challenges as, well as successes, are discussed in full context and briefings are delivered by subject matter experts. VA has provided everything that has been asked for by the transition team."
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01.12.2025