WASHINGTON -- President Donald Trump announced Friday that he will nominate acting Veterans Affairs Secretary Robert Wilkie to permanently lead the beleaguered department, in an announcement that caught the candidate off guard.
Trump broke the news about Wilkie at a White House event on prison overhauls as he introduced Cabinet members in attendance. When Trump got to Wilkie, he said, "I'll be informing him in a little while -- he doesn't know this yet -- that we're going to be putting his name up for nomination to be secretary."
As the crowd applauded the announcement, Wilkie stood to shake the president's hand, nodding his head as he did so. Wilkie then received a standing ovation.
"Fantastic," Trump said. "I'm sorry that I ruined the surprise."
Wilkie has led the VA since Trump fired David Shulkin in March amid an ethics scandal and mounting rebellion within the agency. Trump then turned to Ronny Jackson, the Navy doctor who had been his personal physician, but Jackson abruptly withdrew last month over allegations about his professionalism.
The accusations from colleagues and subordinates in the White House Medical Unit that Jackson led included drinking on the job, sloppy record-keeping and a loose dispensing of prescription drugs.
Wilkie, 55, is a former Pentagon undersecretary for personnel and readiness who oversaw a new policy aimed at stemming harassment in the military after an online nude-photo sharing scandal rocked the Marine Corps. The Senate confirmed him unanimously for the Defense Department post.
At the VA, Wilkie has sought to rebuild morale at a department beset with inner turmoil and rebellion over Trump's push to expand access to private care. On Thursday, he announced a $10 billion contract with Cerner Corp. to overhaul electronic health records for millions of veterans, a 10-year project that aims to improve mental health care and ease access to private providers.
Wilkie's selection reflects Trump's desire to have a steady hand leading the government's second-largest department after the withdrawal by Jackson, who had never managed a large workforce. The Pentagon is the government's largest department, with more than 700,000 employees.
The VA faces numerous problems demanding immediate attention, including a multibillion-dollar revamp of electronic medical records that lawmakers fear will prove too costly and wasteful and a pending budget shortfall in the Choice program.
Veterans groups expressed support for Wilkie's nomination.
Sen. Johnny Isakson, R-Ga., chairman of the Senate Veterans Affairs Committee, said he enjoyed working with Wilkie in his acting capacity. He did not announce a date for Wilkie's confirmation hearing.
Information for this article was contributed by Darlene Superville, Ken Thomas and Jill Colvin of The Associated Press, and by Jenna Johnson, Lisa Rein, Emily Thibodeaux-Wax, Seung Min Kim and Erica Werner of The Washington Post.
A Section on 05/19/2018