IG Report: Head Of Trump-Created VA Whistleblower Office Used Position Instead To Silence Some Who Came Forward

The Office of Accountability and Whistleblower Protection was supposed to help eliminate wrongdoing in the VA. Instead Peter O’Rourke and his successor, Kirk Nicholas, ended investigations into allies of senior officials, failed to consistently report to Congress and refused to honor whistleblowers’ demands for anonymity, a new report finds.

A political operator who led an office created by President Donald Trump to expose wrongdoing at the Department of Veterans Affairs used his position to quash whistleblowers and retaliate against foes, according to an inspector general report released Thursday. The accusations involve Peter O’Rourke, who Trump appointed in 2017 to lead the new Office of Accountability and Whistleblower Protection, and his successor, Kirk Nicholas. (Allen, 10/24)

The report comes as the VA district that includes Georgia replaced top leadership last month and the main regional hospital in Decatur for military veterans undergoes an investigation of medical practices amid widespread problems. Regional VA employees lodged close to 300 complaints with the inspector general in the last two years, ranging from retaliation against employees by superiors to abuse of authority. (Quinn, 10/24)

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