President Donald Trump’s former Veterans Affairs Secretary, David Shulkin, attended a campaign fundraiser for 2020 Democrat frontrunner and former Vice President Joe Biden in New York City on Monday, according to a report.
Shulkin, who in 2015 was appointed Under Secretary of Veterans Affairs for Health by then-President Barack Obama, served as head of the department until he was fired in March 2018. President Trump said he “made some changes” to the VA due to his unhappiness with “the speed with which our veterans were taken care of.” Shulkin claims he was forced out of the administration over his opposition to privatizing military health care. Last year, VA Inspector General Michael Missal released a report revealing Shulkin misled the agency’s ethics office regarding a European trip, during which he and his wife attended a Wimbledon tennis game.
In addition to Shulkin, the $2,800-a-head fundraiser, hosted by billionaire hedge fund manager Jim Chanos at his Upper East Side penthouse, also attracted former U.S Sen. Al D’Amato (R-NY). D’Amato, who served in the Senate from 1981 to 1999, is the last Republican to represent the Empire State in Congress’s upper chamber. Further, John Catsimatidis, the supermarket billionaire and radio talk show host who ran for the Republican nomination for New York mayor, also attended the gathering.
“You guys are great, but Wall Street didn’t build America,” Biden said in his remarks before attendees, Bloomberg reported. “You guys are incredibly important, but you didn’t build America. Ordinary, hard-working, middle-class people, given half a chance, build America.”
According to Chanos, the fundraiser, which attracted around 180 people, raised approximately $500,000.
Monday’s event was the first of four Biden fundraisers in the Big Apple for the week.
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