Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) Secretary Robert Wilkie defended his position to evict Rep. Brian Mast (R-Fla.) and five other members of Congress from their office spaces in two Florida facilities while touting the department’s improvement under President Donald Trump.
In a letter sent on Friday and obtained by IJR, Wilkie addressed Mast’s criticism of the VA’s removal of him and five other members — Reps. Alcee Hastings (D-Fla.), Ted Deutch (D-Fla.), Lois Frankel (D-Fla.), Darren Soto (D-Fla.), and Stephanie Murphy (D-Fla.) — from their office spaces in the West Palm Beach and Orlando VA Medical Centers.
In a Thursday interview with IJR, Mast said that he was kicked out of his space because the VA facilities exist to give medical care to veterans and congressional offices like his do not exist inside other government agencies.
Mast said that the space he was using was “the size of a closet” and that he planned to fight the decision “tooth and nail.”
Wilkie accused the Florida congressman of being “party to” or making “several misleading public statements” regarding the decision to evict, transparency at the VA, and veteran suicides. – READ MORE