Yesterday, Trump fired Secretary David Shulkin from his post at the Department of Veterans Affairs. The president has long been reported as an advocate for privatization of the VA, despite the tremendous risk of sending millions of veterans out to an unprepared private sector. In response, United States Marine Corps veteran and DNC Deputy Press Secretary Brian Gabriel released the following statement:

“As yet another cabinet-level shakeup plays out over Twitter, Donald Trump needs to know that privatization of the Department of Veterans Affairs is utterly unacceptable to the men and women who have risked their health and safety for our sake. Plainly stated, we owe them. The nation absolutely cannot back out of the unbreakable deal we make with every veteran to care for all wounds sustained in the line of duty.

“Republicans have stood by, or even helped, as Trump has tried his best to dismantle our country’s institutions in order to benefit super-rich corporations and the wealthy.  In only a year’s time, he’s cheated Americans on health care and their taxes. Though the president’s greed knows no bounds, we cannot allow American’s veterans to be used as pawns in Trump’s ongoing quest to send wealth to the top 1%.

“The onus is on the United States government to fulfill its moral responsibility to the patriots who willingly sacrificed their health to protect us. In no way, shape, or form should this obligation be pushed aside. Leaving veterans’ health care to the whims of profit-minded corporations would be an outright betrayal of the warriors who swore to defend the constitution up to the cost of their lives.”