Watchdog faults VA chief over handling of sex assault report
WASHINGTON — Confronted with a sexual assault allegation at a veterans hospital, VA Secretary Robert Wilkie repeatedly sought to discredit the aide who made the complaint and his staff worked to spread negative information about her, according to a report released Thursday.
The report by the VA’s inspector general found that Wilkie acted unprofessionally in the case of Navy veteran Andrea Goldstein, a policy adviser to Democratic Rep. Mark Takano of California. Associated Press policy is not to name possible victims of sexual assault. Goldstein agreed to be publicly identified.
Wilkie said the allegations are false. “After nearly a year of investigation, interviews with 65 people and analysis of nearly 1.5 million documents, VA’s inspector general cannot substantiate that I sought to investigate or asked others to investigate the veteran,” Wilkie said.
