Department of Veterans Affairs Secretary Robert Wilkie disparaged a veteran who claimed she was sexually assaulted at a VA hospital and sought to undermine her credibility, a new investigation from the department's inspector general has found. The report did not, however, substantiate reports that Wilkie actively investigated the former service member or ordered others to look into her background.
The VA IG has since February been
investigating allegations that Wilkie took steps to discredit Andrea Goldstein,
a Navy Reserve intelligence officer and adviser to the House Veterans Affairs
Committee, after she said she was groped at the VA Medical Center in Washington,
D.C. in September.
In a report released Thursday,
Inspector General Michael Missal said his office could not substantiate the
charge that Wilkie actively sought proof that Goldstein had filed "at
least six equal employment opportunity-type complaints" while she was on
active duty.
But the VA IG did find that VA
officials began to take actions within hours of Goldstein's report that
appeared to seek reasons to undermine her credibility. According to the
investigation, the same day as the complaint, they began discussing whether
Goldstein had complained about verbal abuse from a VA provider. And, the probe
found, they ran a background check on Goldstein and circulated the findings
before a background check was conducted on the accused, and later launched a
media campaign to question Goldstein's credibility, targeting nine national
press outlets.
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