30 March 2018 11:13 am
DPA, 29th MARCH, 2018- US President Donald Trump on Wednesday dismissed his secretary of veterans affairs, a move that had been expected for weeks amid a shakeup of personnel on Trump’s team.
Trump announced in a tweet his intention to replace Veterans Affairs Secretary David Shulkin, a medical doctor and former hospital executive, with White House doctor Ronny L Jackson. He thanked Shulkin for his service to the country and its veterans.
Jackson, a Navy admiral, was in the spotlight in January when he declared Trump “fit for duty” and “mentally very sharp, very intact” after conducting his first physical examination since taking office.
He has served as White House physician during the administrations of presidents George W Bush and Barack Obama, a White House statement said. After joining the Marines in 2005 he served in Iraq as an emergency doctor.
Shulkin, the only holdover from the Obama administration to join Trump’s cabinet, appeared to lose favour with Trump when the Department of Veterans Affairs suffered a series of negative headlines.