Fmr. VA Head Hopes for Trump-Like Chief to Take Over

President-elect Donald Trump has not yet chosen who will lead the Department of Veterans Affairs, but former Secretary Jim Nicholson says the best choice would be someone like Trump himself.

“I don’t have a candidate, I just hope that the President-elect will appoint someone who is like him, who’s a change agent,” Nicholson told the FOX Business Network’s Maria Bartiromo.

In his opinion, the VA should be treated like a business and the Secretary should have the authority to address systemic problems.

“The Secretary of the VA is the CEO of the largest healthcare provider in the United States,” said Nicholson, who added that the Secretary needs the authority to hire and fire, shut down or upscale certain facilities and have the ability to move personnel such as doctors, nurses and hospital directors.

“Right now there’s a sclerosis in the VA,” he said. “The unions have a tight grip on it, the bureaucracy, so the new Secretary needs to be committed to the reforms needed to make that department what it could be and the president needs to be committed to stand behind that new Secretary.”