Veterans Affairs Secretary Robert Wilkie has no interest in joining with President Donald Trump in criticizing the late Sen. John McCain.
"Things at the presidential level, I don't get into," Wilkie said.
He made his comments during an interview this week with CBS News’ Major Garrett on “The Takeout” podcast.
McCain died last August after fighting brain cancer. However, in March at an Ohio rally, Trump reignited his feud with McCain, a Vietnam veteran.
Trump said the late Arizona senator “didn’t get the job done for our vets and the VA and they knew it.”
The feud between Trump and McCain began during the 2016 campaign when Trump questioned McCain's status as a war hero. In 2017, McCain cast the deciding vote that ended the GOP's effort to repeal Obamacare.
But Wilkie said both Trump and the senator had “been incredibly kind to me.” And he said McCain had been “very supportive of my career.”
And he noted that under Trump, the VA now has its largest budget ever.
"We are in line with legislation that was signed by the president last year, putting veterans at the center of their healthcare," he said.
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