Jake Tapper grilled White House Chief of Staff Denis McDonough Thursday on “The Lead” over the VA scandal that left dozens of veterans in Phoenix dead waiting for care.
“How many stories like this, how many letters like this, how many dead veterans do you need before somebody asks the question within the White House–maybe this guy [VA Secretary Eric Shinseki] isn’t the best steward of these veterans?” Tapper asked McDonough about the head of the VA, who’s fallen under heavy criticism for mismanagement of the veterans healthcare system.
Tapper pressed McDonough futher, noting potential federal crimes might have been committed in the Phoenix scandal due to alleged off-the-books waiting lists created to hide long appointment wait times for sick veterans.
Personally, Tapper has shown his dedication to the U.S. military. In March, he adopted an Afghanistan soldier through “Homefront Hugs,” sending him a care package. And in 2012, he authored “The Outpost: An Untold Story of American Valor,” which chronicled the 2009 attack on Combat Outpost Keating in Afghanistan.