Veterans Affairs chief misused department funds

WASHINGTON— Veterans Affairs Secretary David Shulkin misused taxpayer dollars during a trip to Europe last year, according to an inspector general’s report released Wednesday. The July trip to Copenhagen and London cost the VA at least $122,334, with 10 other people, including Shulkin’s wife Merle Bari, joining the secretary for meetings on veterans’ issues. According to the inspector general’s report, Shulkin attended 3½ days of meetings and spent “significant personal time for sightseeing and other unofficial activities.” In addition, the report accuses Shulkin’s chief of staff, Viveca Wright Simpson, of falsifying information to a VA ethics lawyer in order to approve Bari’s inclusion on the trip. Her plane tickets cost more than $4,000. The report also said Shulkin and Bari improperly accepted tickets for the women’s tennis final at Wimbledon while in London. Shulkin told the inspector general’s office that he received the tickets from Victoria Gosling, his wife’s friend and the head of a for-profit enterprise. The report said accepting the tickets violated federal ethics rules.