Former Alaska Governor Sarah Palin is reportedly interested in becoming the secretary of the Department of Veterans Affairs for the Trump administration.
A source close to Palin spoke to NBC News and stated that Palin has expressed interest in the position and is apparently in contact with the Trump transition team at Trump Tower in Manhattan.
But whether this interest will materialize into anything more serious remains to be seen. The two top contenders for the position seem to be former GOP Sen. Scott Brown and former CEO of Concerned Veterans for America Pete Hegseth. Brown and Hegseth are veterans, having both served in the Army National Guard, which is likely the principal reason for why they are frontrunners.
The Daily Caller News Foundation reported Tuesday that Hegseth was under consideration for the position of secretary of the VA, a point that was not noted in the transcript of the daily Trump transition call, either Monday or Tuesday.
Hegseth met with Trump on Tuesday. Brown met with Trump last Monday and after the interview proclaimed to reporters that he would be “the best person” for the job.
“I’m not competing with anybody. I think I’m the best person, but there are some tremendous people out there. I don’t look at it as a competition,” Brown said.
Part of the reason there’s so much attention on who exactly is going to take up the position of SecVA in the Trump administration is because Trump’s campaign focused a lot on appealing to veterans.
Trump has promised a monumental shift at the VA, which under the Obama administration has been vociferously criticized for pushing back against proposals that would make it easier to fire bad employees and failing to address long wait times for care. Secret wait lists are still being exposed at facilities across the country, and the VA inspector general has released report after report showing that employees have manipulated wait times to make it appear as though veterans are receiving appointments in a timely fashion.
Back in February, Palin got Trump to fly her in to Iowa using Trump’s private jet. But by the time she had finished campaigning, she had to fly home commercial. She endorsed Trump in January.
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