David Shulkin, the secretary of veterans affairs, has been called to task by the Inspector General for a 10-day, $122,000 business trip he took to Europe in July, which included $4200 airfare for his wife. He led a VA team to Copenhagen and London for 10 days in July,but only 3-1/2 days were devoted to business. The rest of the time was spent on sightseeing and unofficial activities, such as attending the Wimbledon tennis tournament using free tickets. He was not alone; he was accompanied by his wife, a small staff and a six-person security detail.
To justify paying for the secretary’s wife’s $4,000 airfare, the IG's report said, the department’s chief of staff altered an email to indicate that Dr. Shulkin and his wife had been specifically invited to an honorary dinner in Denmark, when in fact they had not.
While the couple were in London, the report found, they improperly accepted tickets to a tennis match at Wimbledon.
Shulkin is not the only cabinet secretary to be accused of lavish spending on travel. Tom Price was dismissed as secretary of health and human services over his use of private jets.
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