Chairman Takano: VA’s Failure to Meet Deadline, Provide Documents in Mar-A-Lago Investigation Demonstrates “Lack of Good Faith Effort”
WASHINGTON, DC – Today, House Committee on Veterans’ Affairs Chairman Mark Takano (CA-41) released the following letter in response to the Secretary of the Department of Veterans Affairs’ failure to meet the February 22, 2019 deadline and provide documents regarding the Committee’s investigation into the potential undue influence of the Mar-a-Lago “three” on VA:
Chairman Takano opened his letter stating, “I have yet to receive a single document responsive to my request.”
He continued, “Providing a letter after 5pm on Friday, February 22, requesting a meeting to discuss document production without producing a single document demonstrates a lack of a good faith effort to comply with my request by the Department.”
“When I spoke with you on February 8, you pledged to fully comply with my request by the February 22, 2019 deadline. I also informed you during that conversation to contact my staff and me if you anticipated needing more time to respond, so we could develop a reasonable document production schedule,” the letter stated.
Chairman Takano has accepted an offer to meet with VA Secretary Wilkie to discuss a timeline for providing the requested documents.
Full text of the letter follows and can be found here.
February 25, 2019
The Honorable Robert Wilkie
Secretary
Department of Veterans Affairs
810 Vermont Avenue, N.W.
Washington, D.C. 20420
Dear Mr. Secretary:
Thank you for your February 22, 2019 response to my request for documents, communications, and information regarding the influence Mr. Ike Perlmutter, Dr. Bruce Moskowitz, and Mr. Marc Sherman asserted over the Department of Veterans Affairs.
When I spoke with you on February 8, you pledged to fully comply with my request by the February 22, 2019 deadline. I also informed you during that conversation to contact my staff and me if you anticipated needing more time to respond, so we could develop a reasonable document production schedule.
I have yet to receive a single document responsive to my request. Prior to the February 22, 2019 deadline, your Department had not made any attempt to notify my staff or me that the Department could not comply with the deadline.
Providing a letter after 5pm on Friday, February 22, requesting a meeting to discuss document production without producing a single document demonstrates a lack of a good faith effort to comply with my request by the Department.
I accept your offer of a meeting, but I expect that documents responsive to my request are provided to the Committee at such meeting. The Department has stonewalled Congress long enough regarding this matter and others.
Thank you in advance for providing the requested documents, communications, and information to the Committee no later than March 8, 2019.
Sincerely,
Mark Takano
Chairman
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