White House aides consider reshaping the way the Trump administration briefs the press daily
White House communications director Mike Dubke resigned earlier this week and Spicer himself said on Tuesday that Cabinet secretaries will begin to do more briefings.
Putting the oft-behind the scenes Shulkin on-camera also stopped the White House from making Trump available on Wednesday. A White House official told CNN that Trump would not do a bilateral news conference with Vietnamese Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc because Shulkin went before the cameras.
Presidents often do bilateral news conferences when a foreign dignitary visits the White House.
Shulkin pushed for new Veterans Affairs accountability legislation during the briefing, saying that current rules make it difficult for his department to fire employees who break the rules, including the fact that the VA had to wait more than a month to fire someone who was caught watching pornography while helping a veteran.
Shulkin also announced the soft launch of a White House complaint line for the Department of Veterans Affairs, a program which they hope to have fully operational by August.
But when Shulkin opened the floor to questions, reporters pushed him more on news of the day — namely Trump’s expected decision to pull out of the Paris climate agreement — not his announcements on Veterans Affairs.
“As the secretary of Veterans Affairs, I’m focused on those environmental issues that impact veterans, and our studies are focused on usually the chemical and the environmental impacts that are used on the battlefield, ” Shulkin said, punting a question about the climate agreement. “Those are the ones that I continue to be focused on that, and beyond that, it really is beyond my scope as secretary.”
