dr. david shulkin? of course, he didn't actually toe him himself, he spoke shulkin, had an extended conversation with shulkin on wednesday, according to dr. shulkin. he did not know he was being fired. and then hours later, he tweeted that dr. shulkin was fired. suzanne gordon, your response? >> that is par for the course for donald trump. fired.ts that you are he does not do it in person. --hink the issue here really dr. shulkin, sadly, gave some ammunition to those who wanted to get rid of him because they felt that he wasn't privatizing the veterans health administration, which is really what this was all about. it is the second-largest agent -- the va is the second-largest agency in thunited states and runs the largest health care system in the united states, which is the veterans health administration which serves the needs of 9 million of america's 22 million veterans. 2014 has been a move since mostly promoted by the conservative koch brothers to use the v.a. to discredit government and to try to

dr. shulkin at his level when necessary. there are travel costs and other things involved when we do the town halls, but guess what? guess who's stepping up to pay those costs? people who invest in amvets. these are corporations, these are foundations, this is yet an opportunity for the public and the corporate sector to find a role in how we carryout this program. those are still being determined. we've already fielded requests from companies and even amvets posts that want to fund a lot of what we're going to do. i don't know if that answers your question completely or whoa, but the cost is minimal compared to the return we're getting. i think we've lucked out in that way. >> and just to add to that, leo, i can't overemphasize how important it is to have this kind of assistance on the front lines connecting veterans to our services. because when you hear the number 20 a day, the veset transwho ge into our system for mental health services have better outcomes and their risk of suicide is dramatically lowered. that's not to

dr. david shulkin out and ronnie jackson, dr. johnny jackson in. an unusual choice, to say the least. >> yeah, andrea, that's putting it mildly. the president leaving now not answering any questions. he's not really been seen in public until this moment over the last five days or so. we've got almost a backlog of big questions for him on issues like this. we're reporting this morning that chief of staff john kelly called dr. shulkin yesterday before the president's tweet. so unlike some other cabinet secretaries, he may not have been caught as completely off guard of the news that he was out, the president's doctor on the way in. it is interesting to hear white house officials talk about the rear admiral who is now the nominee to head the virginia. they make the argument he is a veteran, understands veterans issues and has the president's ear. but nobody is trying to credit make the argument that he has the management experience to lead an organization of a couple hundred thousand people as the va is. they just say that the last few directors of th

dr. shulkin was widely expected. it had been expected for weeks because while dr shulkin had been a favorite cabinet member of the president's for many, many months, he fell out of favor after an insctor general report criticized a trip that he took tourope that-- that was lavish, that involved his roperting of a gift of imp wimbledon tickets. and then dr. shulkin did himself no favors by b pushingack hard against the report, and also by going to the press repeatedly and talking about an insurrection that was afoot inside v.a.sphoz oust him over his policy differences on private care for veterans. so that's really what tipped the scales for dr. shulkin. >> woodruff: now, he had been, if i remember correctly, the only holdover from the obama administration and i think we have been reading that he and the president had developed a good relationship. >> they had. in fact, a number oagf montho, the president, who famously says, "yoiu'reed" at the oval office at an appearance said, "oh, we'll never say that about our davi

dr. david shulkin tapping physician dr. ronny jackson to replace him. ongressman to call for shulkin's ouster was mike kaufman of colorado, a marine corps veteran who served in both the gulf war and iraq war. good morning, congressman. >> good morning. >> great to have you. why did you think that dr. shulkin was not fit for the job? >> well, dr. shulkin did nothing to change the culture within the department of veterans affairs. and there is a calcified layer at the top at the most senior executive service levels that have failed our veterans year after year after year. and have not been removed. and the congress gave the administration, the prior administration, the authority to expeditiously remove these people without the same protections as the rank and file. and the prior administration didn't do so. dr. shulkin didn't do so. and so nothing changed at the v.a. and he really needed to go. >> and how about dr. jacks jackson? is he qualified to changes the calcified culture in. >> unless he removes a good number of those people, unless he cleans house,

dr. shulkin's service to our country and to our great veterans. white house doctor rear admiral ronny jackson will replace shulkin at the v.a. he's served as the white house physician for the past three presidents. former head shull cain came under fire after an investigation showed he used taxpayer money to purchase plane tickets to fly to europe with his wife last summer and for ticketed for a wimbledon tennis match. >> i'm committed to doing what we have to do to focus on veterans and make this better. >> following the recent departures, shulkin is the eighth high-profile member of the trump administration to depart since the beginning of this calendar year. president trump in a statement said dr. jackson is highly trained and qualified and said that as a servicemember himself jackson has seen first hand the tremendous sacrifice our veterans make and has a deep appreciation for the debt our great country owes them. anne-marie? >> well, john dowd is denying the possibility that he pardoned two of the president's advisers. >> president trump's lea

dr. david shulkin. a widely respected physician. dr. shulkin has been kind to us in explaining the thought process in what is happening at the v.a. but now it will be in the hand of dr. ronny jackson. by the way, dr. shulkin was a hair obama holdover. and dr. jackson served. a navy admiral and served in the iraq war and notably served presidents george w. bush and president obama and now president trump. now he takes over for dr. shulkin whose depar tur was expected for -- departure for some time but dr. shulkin isn't leaving quietly. a blistering op-ed in the new york times why reads in part, i have fought to stand up for this great department and all that it embodies. in recent months though, the environment in washington has turned so toxic, so chaotic and subversive and became impossible for me to accomplish the work our veterans need and deserve. white house officials tell us this, sometimes on the record or sometimes on background, the president respects dr. shulkin but he was frustrated over the pace of privatization at the v.a. a

dr. shulkin say something that is eminently true. and that is this is the largest integrated health care system in america. 350,000 employees. in my view, you would need somebody with a great deal of administrative experience somebody hopefully who knows something about the va. but what i fear very much and this has nothing to do with i know nothing about dr. jackson. so this is not a criticism. but i think he is going to be the front guy to try to move toward privatization. what i am urging my colleagues on the senate veterans fairs committee to do is to not support dr. jackson or anybody else who intends to privatize the va. that would be a terrible disservice to millions of veterans in this country who depend upon the va into final question. has -- did shulkin do a good job? we keep talking about strengthening the va and know there are problems. is the trajectory going in the right direction? >> i think in general it is. look, he was under a lot of pressure. and at every meeting, there was always that debate between those who want

shulkin is out. tapped hisnt has white house dr. to replace mr. shulkin.s the second-largest agency behind the pentagon. was theng of shulkin second firing in 15 days. we want to hear from our nation's veterans this morning. what is your reaction to the president's decision? .our number is (202) 748-8000 all others, we want to hear from you. (202) 748-8001. you can join us on twitter @cspanwj or post your comments on facebook.com/c-span. that ieased to announce will nominate dr. johnson as the new veteran of veterans affairs. i am thankful for dr. david shulkin's service to our country and the great veterans is what the president said yesterday. leaning us on the phone is the deputy editor for the military times. why was he fired? a series of complicated reasons. it goes to be inspector general's report last month dealing with his own travel scandal, a summer trip to europe where he took his wife and accepted for a wimbledon tickets. since then we have seen a series controversies. the president said there were folks within the administration looking to und

dr. david shulkin's service to our country and to our great veterans!"

dr. shulkin probably -- although i have also berd of the good places to in. i believe what dr. kin has -- is aely, especially big improvement. host: before you go, you are how old? caller: i was 90 last month. host: well, happy birthday. caller: thank you. host: and you said the hearing loss that you have is a recent ailment? you did not have any other problems until then? caller: no, thank god. tinnitus as ad result of being in a tank car, loss wastual hearing only affected by the tinnitus. i tried very hard to ignore it. i benefit from the v.a. very much, because i did go back to school, became an engineer, and over the years, i wound up being the navy's director of science .nd technology when i retired, which i think the v.a. four, i got help line my house, which i still live in, strangely enough. [laughter] been here 50 years. well, thank you very much for your phone call this morning. thank you for that history lesson as well. guest: yes, so heartwarming to .ear from you we stand on the shoulders of giants. i appreciate hearing the story of your service, their journey post

dr. david shulkin. senior north and south korean officials are just launching high-level talks to set up a planned summit in april with president trump. team coverage tonight, tomlinson standing by at the pentagon with why dr. david shulkin was locked up into his -- let's go. we begin tonight with chief national correspondent ed henry following the new pressure on the fbi. good evening. >> great to see you. democrats left off these allegations about fisa abuse but there may be some people in the obama inner circle tonight that are starting to sweat, not to mention former top fbi officials who were supposed to be nonpolitical, like james comey and andrew mccabe, who will now be facing even more scrutiny from the justice department inspector general michael horowitz. remember attorney general jeff sessions weeks ago said he wanted horwitz to handle this and got more heat from supporters of president trump who said, well, the inspector general is going to bury this. sessions had passed the buck once again.

dr. david shulkin's service to our country and to our great veterans!" all of this is happening is the white house continues to battle other news, as in other rumors about what a former white house lawyer may or may not have said to former trump campaign officials. we take you there and what sarah sanders had today at the press conference. >> i would refer you back to the statement from ty cobb and the report that you're asking about in which he said i've only been asked about pardons by the pres press. >> the white house again avoiding questions surrounding the president's legal team. this time deflecting a "new york times" report that before they were indicted, the president former attorney john dowd floated the idea of the president pardoning michael flynn on paul manafort, subjects of the ongoing miller pro. >> i can say ty cobb is the person that would be most directly involved in this. he's got a statement on the record saying there's no discussion and no consideration at this time. >> this statement may have addressed the broader discussion of par

dr. shulkin has done tremendous amount of good from the time president trump appointed him to lead the vaul job reducing how long it takes for a veteran to receive a decision. he turned the g.i. bill into the forever g.i. bill. i for one benefited from that particular program. other things getting poor performance out of the va. however again the president is within his purview to pivot and move into a different direction if he sees fit. i think that is, that is something that is paramount. for me and for i'm sure many veterans what is really important to us there are over 20 million veterans and 22 commit suicide every day. david: just awful. just awful. >> one of the things we want to do is see continued movement. david: yeah. it is not being addressed properly. one of the things, shulkin is not happy about being fired. he addressed that in an editorial he wrote which he talked about privatizing the va and his charge that some people in the administration want to privatize the va. let's just play what he says and get your reaction. go ahead. >> we are not trying to privatize the va. we

president trump dismissed david shulkin onnd wednesday nominated navy rear admiral ronny jackson, the white house physician, to lead the dr. sugar kin was brought in during the obama adminisation t his leadership was rattled by recent reports that he used taxpayer money to take a tip to europe with his wife. shulkin downplayed theept, saying he has repaid the government for the charges. saying he was the victim of politically based attacks. he also told judy woodruff that he was fired because ofng his st opposition to privatetizing the v.a., something president trump supports. >> i don't see privatization as a good thing for veterans and i think thathose that are really political ideology or doing this for other reasons like financial reasons don't have the interests of veterans at heart. i think yo t just haveo talk to the veterans' group to hear that. robert:y colleagues at the "washington post" reported that many people inside of the white house, including dr. jackson, wereed surpr by his nomination. they wrote that jackson was taken aback and heads at the same timed to take on such a big job but the president to push

dr. david shulkin. president trump goes after amazon again and pushes his public/private and is your child suffering from the high-tech disorder of too much screen time? are -- our kids and culture series continues. >> bret: good evening. i'm bret baier. just fired secretary dave shulkin is not going quietly tonight. he's going public with his many grievances. we'll talk about him live in a moment. but first, lucas tomlinson at the pentagon on shulkin's parting shots against the washington culture. good evening. >> bret, president trump was in ohio today to defend the firing of his veterans affairs secretary dr. david shulkin. >> i wasn't happy with the speed with which our veterans were taken care of. we made changes because we want them taken care of. we want them to have choice. so that they can run to a private doctor. >> shulkin wasn't too happy about getting axed and took out his frustrations in a blistering op ed this morning saying "washington has turned so toxic, chaotic, disrespectful and subv

dr. shulkin had.in shulkin being a physician but also sophisticated in how health care systems operate and doing a very good job implementing choice and making sure veterans had options outside of the v.a. system. 36% of veterans are being cared for outside of the v.a. they're being cared for through choice or other care in the community programs and i want to see that trend continue. >> do you want there to be privatization of the v.a.? >> well, what i believe -- katie, we need to better integrate the civilian and veterans health system. it is absurd that where i live in allentown, pennsylvania, my veterans must go to wilkes-barre pennsylvania, 60 miles away for a scheduled in patient procedure that could be done in the communities. my veterans want to be served in the communities where they live. we educated our veterans and we call it the g.i. bill. and never created veteran clems or university and sent them to the private institutions and educated them and a great investment. i believe we must bet

dr. david shulkin. laura podesta has nominated his doctor to fill the position. >> reporter: dr. david shulkin secretary of veterans affairs is no longer holding the job according to a tweet wednesday from the president which read in part, i'm thankful for dr. david shulkin's service to our country and to our great veterans. white house dr. rear admiral ronny jackson will replace shulkin as head of the va. >> the president's overall health is excellent. >> reporter: jackson is a naval officer who served as white house physician for the past 3 presidents. former va head shulkin came under fire after an inspector general report in february found that he used taxpayer money to purchase his wife's plane ticket to europe last summer and improperly accepted tickets to a wimbledon tennis match. he paid back the more than $4,000 after it became public. >> i made the decision to reimburse the treasury to follow the ig recommendations and i'm committed to doing what we have to do to focus on veterans and make this better. >> reporter: following the recent departures of national security adv

dr. shulkin. dr. shulkin, thanks for joining us this morning.w you've been a busy man the last couple of days and yesterday, i want to start, the president talked about not being satisfied with the level of care at the v.a. let's listen. >> i wasn't happy with the speed with which our veterans were taken care of. we made changes because we want them taken care of. we want them to have choice, so that they can run to a private doctor and take care of it. and it's going to get done. >> i know you spoke to the president before you were fired on wednesday. is that what he told you on the call? >> well, the president and i did talk about what we were doing to improve the v.a. and how we could speed things up. i agree with the president, we have to do more and we have to do better for our veterans. >> but did he tell you he was not satisfied and did he tell you you were losing your job? >> the president asked me about the types of things that we were doing to improve the v.a. he had a lot of questions about it. i told him all the steps that we were ta

dr. shulkin, welcome. thank you. aware ornow if you are not, but over the last several years congressman tim ryan and myself both served as co-chairs of the military mental health caucus. it's had a few variations of different aware or not, names. essentially we have tried to hold hearings and have meet to discuss things that would help returning war fighters and veterans deal with any mental health issues or stigmas that have arrived since, quite frankly, the last war on terror. to try to do something to address the suicide issue that has obviously been a big problem. i want to say that we appreciate everything that you have tried to do. and your willingness to send someone to participate in a lot of briefings we had for our members and staff. and i recently read a report about the v.a. that raised some concerns about our ability to meet the mental health needs of those post-9/11 veterans. of the post 9/11 veterans who haven't gone to the v.a. for help, many reported they don't know how to apply for benefits. they d

dr. david shulkin has a future in this administration. comes after the ceo of news >>> the trump white house offered mixed signals today about whether v.a. secretary dr. david shulkin has a future in this administration. this comes after the ceo of news max and trump confidante christopher ruddy cast doubt about shulkin's long-term status with the administration. >> he did say that he's expecting to make one or two major changes to his government very soon, and that's going to be it. now, other white house sources, not the president, tell me the veterans affairs secretary david shulkin is likely to depart the cabinet very soon. >> fast forward to the briefing this afternoon, deputy press secretary said he had no person el -- personnel announcements to make. >> earlier on this very network, drina mitchell spoke with olsen about the high turnover in the administration. >> i think everyone would agree there is chaos and confusion. government is not clean or orderly ever but this seems to be beyond normal bounds. >> we have convinced two very

dr. shulkin, but it seems like that means nothing, because if you look at these other dismissals or firing twitter or however, there is always a statement that comes out, so that doesn't mean much. >> every day, every week with this white house in terms of personal matters is like a game of russian roulette. you never know who is going to stay or who is going to go. the president is the man with the red pen and he can make all the decisions. he can change his mind. sometimes a firing will come out of the blue, like former fbi director james comey. you never know where the president will go. in the vase of the v.a., he's been upset with this situation for a while. he's wanted a replacement. this is not a glamorous job. this is a massive bureaucracy with about 3,000 employees. who can the president find who will adhere to his campaign promises to take care of veterans, which the united states is not doing, who the president likes and trust to see replace shulkin? hard to know. >> that's a really good point. according to the "washington post," sometimes there are rumored departures for months

dr. david shulkin.ior north and south korean officials are just launching high-level talks to set up a planned summit in april with president trump. team coverage tonight, tomlinson standing by at the pentagon with why dr. david shulkin was locked up into his -- let's go. we begin tonight with chief national correspondent ed henry following the new pressure on the fbi.

dr. shulkin said the private sector is ill-prepared to handle the number and complexity of patients particularlyal health needs of people scarred by the horrors of war. the department's understanding of service-related health problems, ground-breaking research and its special ability to work with military veterans cannot be easily replicated. if dr. jackson works to privatize -- which is what the white house has signaled the president would be in favor of, how would you see that moving forward? >> do you think it should be privatized? >> in some cases it does. i spoke with 17 combat veterans over the last couple of hours, brooke. you know as well as i do the kind of sacrifice many of our combat veterans have made. of the 17, 16 of them were dealing with some kind of pts or tbi, traumatic brain injury, issue. and all of them cited it's very tough to get one on one time with a psychiatrist, mental health specialist in the va and they said privatization in that sense may be good. in some cases the va does have the edge on certain things. we should leave it there. at the end of the day, needs of the

dr. shulkin was replaced by dr. ronny jackson, who at the white house is heading up a team of about 20 doctors and nurses and health assistants in the care of the president and vice president. and he's going to the second largest bureaucracy in our government, second only to the pentagon that is just renowned for its dysfunction. it's like a recipe for disaster. >> phillip, the departure of shulkin was corleoneesque. it speaks to the out of nowhere dismissal of him yesterday. >> we spoke yesterday. we spoke about what i need to do from a policy perspective. >> that was before you were fired? >> that's correct. >> you spoke to him, he made no mention of the fact he was going to terminate you? >> that's correct. >> and then you found out via tweet? >> mr. kelly gave me a call, which i appreciated, but that was much after the phone call. >> so while not a dead carp inside newspaper, inside a bullet proof vest, that's the kind of thing that can spread anxiety among employees. >> despite the fact this wasn't totally out

dr. shulkin. he's done some great things at the va. the president wants to put the right people in the right place at the right time and that could change. talk about dave shulkin. is he going to be fired face-to-face or through the media or twitter? i have no personnel announcements to make at this time. >> joining us once again is daniel lippman, coauthor of "the political playbook." let's talk about the white house staffing shake-ups that we've seen over the past couple of weeks. the white house remains silent. who are we likely to see next? we know the one thing the president does is telegraph that change is coming. >> yeah. so don mcgahn, the white house counsel, is probably going to leave in the next few months. he's kind of tired of the interchbs job. it's tough to be trump's lawyer when he tweets about the russia investigation. interns are finding it difficult to get jobs because their resume is tainted by the association with the trump white house. >> so with regard to seeing a staff shake-up, let's talk about jared kushner an

dr. shulkin, i support you and your staff. with that being said, everyone wants to dot best for the veterans. it's the only organization that keeps us bipartisan. it truly is. i think everyone is well-intended here. with that, have you all done a survey with veterans -- all the different veterans organization groups on them supporting either the veterans system that we have, the delivery of health care that we have or private easing it? >> the survey, first of all, we now do what many good businesses do. we do a just in time survey on the day of service to find out if there are problems or not. we're learning realtime. >> we've taken out the satisfaction with handing out open yits, haven't we? >> we have. thanks to you pushing on that issue. our survey that we track, the closest is whether veterans trust the va. that's our -- that's essentially our dow jones industrial index that we follow. we went from a 46% trust rate in 2014 to now 70%. we need to do better than that, but we're showing that we're improving direction. the ve

dr. shulkin and replacing him with rick perry. >> rick perry would be a lot more qualified.nor of texas, he pass ad law that would have allowed some vets who were disabled to write off their property taxes. on a lighter note, when he was on "dancing with the stars," he said he did it to raise awareness for veteran issues and he himself is a veteran. so it is a cause is that a group of people very close to his heart. probably northern nuclear codes. >> on the other hand, david shulkin, first of all, he is an obama holdover. probably the only one and he knows the v.a. very well. he has gotten in trouble with the trafs and the infighting at the v.a. but he knows the system very well. >> i think people like whether they are loved by the constitution. it goes to the question, what makes trump want to make changes? they're usually public things. not things behind the scenes. it is what is public. suppliesingly, the person not in these conversations is betsy devos. perhaps the worst education secretary in history and yet she doesn't seem to be on the chopping block so it is confusi

dr. shulkin himself actually went very public with what he said was an attempt by his own political appointees who were installed by the white house at v.a. to oust him. this kind of opened this festering wound at v.a., and there was just more and more press coverage of it. and just shulkin didn't get h along wis appointees, and they were trying to oust him because of personality and policy differences, and the president has told aids tha him tan lly soured on him. >> brangham: so am i right that the core issue underlying this is policy debate within the v. a. over how much we privateize the system or not? is that right? >> that's right. this has been talked about for several years now since in 014 there was a big scandal over v. a. maners who were fudging wait times for patients. it became clear that v.a. system just couldn't handle all the appointments that veterans needed to see doctors. and there's just a huge increasing demand for healthcare. so under obama, president obama, congress passed a ginormous billion dollar, multibillion dollar bill to give some veterans the option but with rest

dr. shulkin was told he was departing much the same pattern that we saw with secretary tillerson, where two white house officials tell nbc news that it was chief-of-staff john kelly who reached out to shulkin sometime yesterday afternoon before the president dropped the hammer, if you will, with his tweet around 5:30 announcing not so much departure but his upcoming replacement, his personal doctor, the white house physician who has been here for the last two administrations, someone who's widely respected here but doesn't have a lot of management experience. now, dr. jackson, ronny jackson will become the next cabinet official to have to get confirmed. we're looking at three separate sets of confirmation hearings in april when the senate gets back. shulkin got confirmed 100-0. this will not be as easy for his replacement but the veterans affairs committee has a lot of democrats on it who are up for reelection including john tester who's the ranking member of that. this is not somebody who wants to pick a fight with president trump a few months before he has to get re-elected in a state tha

dr. shulkin. he is the secretary. he has done great things at the va.ire oaf alleged spending abuses. president obama thinks that the world need as lot more of him, literally. speaking in japan i would create a 1000, a million or young barack obamas or michelle obama obamas, the next people that could take the baton in human relay race. he said many of today's problems are caused by old men. >>> snowing is not a reason to stop shores. he is joking on facebook. the grass is growing, so i must be mowing even if it is snowing. steve: we must be going. ainsley: thanks, jillian. steve: new "fox news poll" shows republicans narrowing the gap with democrats ahead of midterms. what are the issues that will get voters to the polls? a debate next. ainsley: plus you love him as lieutenant dan in "forrest gump." >> two standing orders in this platoon. one, take good care of your feet. two, try not to do anything stupid. like getting yourself killed. ainsley: gary sinise is here with a huge announcement how he is helping the children of our fallen heroes. steve: he

dr. david shulkin is out. president trump has now shed half of his senior staff. it's just march. esident tapping white house physician dr. ronny jackson to lead the second biggest department in the federal government. does he have management experience? not that we know of. what will we learn in this confirmation process? we will see. trump's former campaign manager and current chief strategist for america first action. he's also the co author of the book "let trump be trump." good to see you, sir. >> good morning, chris. how are you today. >> i'm doing well. thank god. what do you know about dr. ronny jackson and the strength of this pick? >> i know admiral jackson is career military officer. he served under two presidents as white house physician. he is a man who understands the v.a. because he has used it for his entire career as it relates to health care and understands the problems that veterans face having been an active duty military officer for his entire professional career. if we want somebody who understands the problems veterans face, who better than one who is going t

dr. david shulkin was on his way out.lkin was the sole obama cabinet holdover but had recently clashed with members of his own v.a. staff. just two days ago, shulkin had this to say when asked about his job. >> working-- working every day. >> reporter: shulkin came under fire after an inspector general pport in february found that he ered taxpayer money to purchase eps wife's plane ticket to atrope last summer and improperly accepted tickets to a wimbledon tennis match. dr. ronny jackson, the president's choice to replace shulkin, is the white house physician. >> absolutely, he's fit for duty. i think he will remain fit for tty for this term and even for the remainder of another term if he's elected. >> glor: jericka, you point out that shulkin was the sole obama administration holdover. why did he fall out of favor with president trump? lk reporter: well, shulkin did veliver some victories for this president, including a new law that would make it easier to fire underperforming v.a. officials. are's where shulkin and the

dr. shulkin, you are on. >> thank you very much. as i look around the audience, there is such amazing expertise with this issue and whenever i go to an event, i always have a goal of taking off a message or meeting summary that will help me. thank you also much for being here and i hope that you too will meet people in this room, and take away something that can contribute. i want to also thank the president and first lady to give us the opportunity to be here. i have three points i wanted to share with you in the hope that you will take something away, as well. the first is is that i do believe that we can make a difference. that we can really help save lives. of veteranrtment affairs, we are the largest health care system in the country. we began to see this problem and opioid addiction and crisis before maybe other health systems. we started focusing on this in 2011 and in 2012, we launched the opioid safety initiatives that has put in over $300 million in prevention and treatment. 2012, we reduced the number of opioids used in t

dr. david shulkin says every day, 20 veterans commit suicide.shulkin says that must change." expanded our veterans crisis line , we are expanding the number of mental health professionals" but the v-a says it can't fight the suicide crisis alone.and that's why its teaming up with the non-profit "am-vets" to send trained nurses to veterans nationwide."there exists a need, now more than ever, for trained advocates, to confront rising suicide rates, particularly among veterans who face transition stress from leaving the service"am-vets says it'll spend 700-thousand dollars, of its own money, on the "heal" program.its nurses will visit rural areas where v-a care can be harder to find.once on the ground, nurses will help veterans one on one navigate the v-a health care system. the v-a says the "heal" program comes at an important time for the department. last year, the v-a expanded the number of people eligible for mental health services.lana mckenzie says her team plans to start holding town halls to let veterans know about their new options."we intend to heal american veterans,

dr. shulkin and he is the secretary and done some great things at the v.a.resident wants to put right people in the right place at the right time and that could change. >> that was fox and friends this morning. but after the break, a very different story from a friend of the president. i used to. i even accept i have a higher risk of stroke due to afib, a type of irregular heartbeat not caused by a heart valve problem. but no matter where i ride, i go for my best. so if there's something better than warfarin, i'll go for that too. eliquis. eliquis reduced the risk of stroke better than warfarin, plus had less major bleeding than warfarin. eliquis had both. don't stop taking eliquis unless your doctor tells you to, as stopping increases your risk of having a stroke. eliquis can cause serious and in rare cases fatal bleeding. don't take eliquis if you have an artificial heart valve or abnormal bleeding. while taking eliquis, you may bruise more easily... and it may take longer than usual for any bleeding to stop. seek immediate medical care for sudden signs of

dr. shulkin, welcome, thank you. tim ryan and myself served as co-chairs of the military mental health caucus. it's had a few variations of different names but we've tried to hold hearings and have meetings to discuss things that would help returning war fighters and veterans deal with any mental health issues or stigmas that have arrived since, quite frankly, the last war on terror and to try to do something to address the suicide issue that has obviously been a big problem. i want to say we appreciate everything you've tried to do and your willingness to send someone to participate in those briefings that we've had for our members and staff and i recently read a report about the v.a. that raised some concerns about our ability to meet the mental health needs of those post 9/11 veteran veterans. of the post 9/11 veterans, many don't know how to apply for benefits. we don't know if the v.a. offers mental health care benefits all together. how are you working with the department of defense to improve transition assist

dr. shulkin. doctors fauci. >> the outbreak happened when all the kids went back to school in august than july. i happened to know that the chain of camps had doctors and nurses on a public health call comparing notes every day. the reason i know this is because my kid was one of the kids who got sick. did you all go back and make contact with these camps that have been working with the disease all summer in september and october? >> that's not what we do. we do the research. i'm not sure they did because when it started to occur in september we were saying oh my goodness we were hoping this would happen but it happened. i can't speak for what the epidemiologist did. >> that i could ask a follow-up question which is knute briefly describes the role of knight at your agency and cdc and other federal federal agencies that work on these? >> that's, macbeth but totally reasonable question. the overriding umbrella agency the department of health and human services so within the department you have the

dr. shulkin, and might want to replace him with someone already in his cabinet.his follows weeks of bitter infighting at the veterans affairs department, where dr. shulkin had faced off with a prominent group of trump administration appointees who want to see him removed from his office. the dispute goes beyond to a struggle over how far and how fast to privatize health care under the be a system -- the v.a. system. tim, ohio, democrat. good morning. caller: good morning. i want to talk about the pennsylvania race. it is pretty clear that conor lamb has won that race, narrowly, over mr. saccone, in a district that voted for trump by 20 points. we are next to the 12 district, and i think that district with two trump by about 12 points. -- went to trump by about 12 points. and as far as tillerson being fired, this is how you treat somebody who, the secretary of state, they find out on a tweet and --y, as mr. twila's tillerson so aptly described the man in the white house, this is not how you treat somebody. thatnk it is indicative across the country, these legislat

dr. david shulkin. [applause] >> good morning. i'm very pleased to be here for this very special event. commander thank you for your leadership and a great job leading m. vets and sherman gillums thank you for being here. i think everybody knows that mental health and in particular suicide prevention is our top priority at the department that drew a -- veteran affairs. it's so important for us and it's these types of collaborations that will have the biggest impact. you know what the va we have done a lot of things this year to impact and reduce the number of veteran suicides so we can expand on what discharges. if a new executive order that we will will give her present a plan this week to give every act of -- active servicemember mental health benefits. we have been using predictive analytics and expanded our veterans crisis line. we are expanding the number of mental health professionals best most importantly is to work with our partners and the outreach to veterans because we know mental health care saves lives and we can do more so this type of initiative is really important. i thi

on the american people, announcing that he is replacing his va secretary, david shulkin, with the white house physician, dr. ronny jackson. dr. jackson, you'll recall, made a name for himself, you might say, by declaring the president to be in excellent health. but i'm told by a white house official that some of these questions about david shulkin, ethical questions over at the va were becoming too big of a distraction for him to carry out the president's agenda when it comes to reforming care for our nation's veterans.