of claims without hearing them pretty credibly from people who have worked for this man, and, again, i don t have any i didn t work for him, i don t have any firsthand knowledge of any of these instances, besides reporting what we hear on capitol hill, but these are pretty damning. again, there s already misgivings about this guy and his lack of experience and drinking on the job and dispensing medicine without proper mechanisms and proper exams seems like two very serious issues that if they get worse could really imperil his nomination and floor vote, again, in the middle of an election year. just accusations but we have, i don t have to tell you this, the second largest government agency, more than 377,000 employees over 9 million veterans who are served by the v.a. every year. are you concerned about a delay? are you concerned about this being dragged out? tell me where you are on this. well, that s who really loses
oversaw a hostile work environment. they say they received claims that dr. jackson drank too much on the job and allowed the overprescription of drugs. we have not verified the claims. these allegations come on top of concerns by both democrats and this is important, and republicans. so this is not about blocking a pick by president trump. democrats and republicans we re talking about are concerned that jackson simply is unqualified to run the va since he has no management experience. why is that important? the v.a. is responsible for the care of more than 20 million veterans across the country. it is the nation s second largest bureaucracy after the defense department. the v.a. is not only in charge of their health care but also their benefits, their burials and memorials. it has a $186 billion annual budget and a work force of more than 377,000 people, and there s
jackson as a person, but it s a criticism of the fact that one does need to have some experience, because the v.a. is responsible for the care of more than 20 million veterans across the country. it is the nation s second largest bureaucracy after the defense department. the v.a. is not only in charge of their health care but also their benefits, burials and memorials. it has a $186 billion annual budget. the veterans affairs department has a work force of more than 377,000 people. there s an additional 4,000 v.a. employees working outside the united states. this is a massive bureaucracy. it s also got more than its share of well-publicized problems including a serious issue with recruiting. former secretary david shulkin said last year there were about 45,000 job vacancies at the v.a. including, by the way, medical officers, nurses, psychologists and physicians assistants. for more on dr. jackson and his fate as the next veterans affairs secretary, msnbc s
great to have you. great to be here. cnn has learned why special counsel robert mueller wants help from deputy chair rick gates. court filings suggest is mueller is going after bigger fish as he investigates contacts between president trump s campaign and russia. in the meantime, the pick for v.a. secretary is drawing criticism and concern over his thin management record. washington post reports dr. ronny jackson, the doctor himself was taken aback when he got the news and expressed hesitance about taking a job that oversees 377,000 employees. and denying a motion from the attorney for stormy daniels to depose president trump and michael cohen. let s begin our coverage with is
one who is going to retire and take over this position to understand the problems that veterans face. part of the answer to that question is someone who has managed something before, let alone the second biggest bureaucracy of 377,000 plus employees and about $250 billion flowing through it. do you know of any management experience of anything near that scale that the admiral has? well, chris, i think if you look back and you look at the previous v.a. secretaries, those who supposedly had management experience who have come in, we have seen disasters under their regimes. the tragedies that took place in phoenix, arizona from a v.a. secretary who had management experience. that didn t help save the lives for the veterans waiting for care in phoenix, arizona. the president is taking a military person and understands the karas it relates to the vca