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In a sign of continuing turmoil at the Department of Veterans Affairs, a deputy secretary in charge of key initiatives was dismissed on Monday, just as the agency rolls out complex changes to its health care system and a plan to address veterans suicide. “Today, I dismissed V.A. deputy secretary James Byrne due to loss of confidence in Mr. Byrne’s ability to carry out his duties,” Robert L. Wilkie, the secretary of veterans affairs, said in a statement. “This decision is effective immediately.” (Steinhauer, 2/3)

Between the lines: The VA has come under fire after a House staff member said she was sexually assaulted at the VA hospital in Washington. The White House was disappointed by the way Wilkie and the VA handled the situation, according to three sources close to the situation. (Swan, Kight and Treene, 2/3)

Byrne’s firing came as the VA continued to be criticized for its treatment of an allegation by Andrea Goldstein, an advisor to the House Committee on Veterans’ Affairs. Goldstein, who is also a Navy veteran, has said she was sexually harassed and assaulted last September by an unidentified man when she was waiting for a drink in a cafe at the VA Medical Center in Washington. The man “slammed her below the waist and told her that ‘you look like you could use a good time,’ ” Goldstein told The New York Times a week after the incident. “He pressed his entire body against mine.” (Macias and Mangan, 2/3)

Congressional Republican and Democratic leaders on veterans issues issued statements of confidence in Wilkie's leadership. "There is no question that this is a critical time for the VA and that Secretary Wilkie must have a leadership team that he can trust supporting him as he works to transform the VA and better serve veterans and their families," said Rep. Phil Roe, the ranking Republican on the House Veterans' Affairs Committee. (Meyer, 2/3)

Mr. Byrne was asked to resign earlier in the day but declined to do so, people familiar with the matter said. Mr. Wilkie then fired him. Messrs. Byrne and Wilkie recently clashed over the department’s handling of allegations of sexual assault at a Washington, D.C., VA medical center, people familiar with the matter said. No charges were filed after an investigation begun after allegations made in September and whose findings were released in January by the VA Office of Inspector General. The report wasn’t made public, and the people familiar with the matter didn’t provide details about the allegations. (Kesling, 2/3)

Byrne was only confirmed in the Senate on Sept. 11 by an 81-11 vote. His departure continues a trend of leadership turmoil at President Donald Trump’s Department of Veterans Affairs. The president’s first VA Secretary, David Shulkin, was forced out after questions emerged about taxpayer-funded travels, and his pick to replace Shulkin, then-White House physician Ronny Jackson, withdrew from consideration amid reports of misconduct on the job. (Oprysko, 2/3)

The VA’s top leadership has been in turmoil in recent years. President Donald Trump’s administration has gone through four deputy secretaries at the VA, with two of them in temporary acting positions. The Obama, Bush and Clinton administrations all had two deputy VA secretaries across both of their terms. (Beynon, 2/3)

Byrne’s predecessor, Thomas Bowman, was pressured out of the job a few months after the firing of former VA Secretary David Shulkin in March 2018. The department has had four different secretaries and four more acting secretaries in the last five years. VA’s top health official post has been vacant since President Donald Trump took office. (Shane, 2/3)

A businessman facing federal charges over an alleged plot to trade political donations for help obtaining marijuana licenses around the country was working on a medical cannabis research deal with the Department of Veterans Affairs just weeks before his indictment. Andrey Kukushkin, a Ukraine-born cannabis investor whose multistate marijuana projects and political donations were allegedly illegally funded by a Russian national, was set to partner with the San Francisco Veterans Affairs Medical Center in September on a five-year research and development agreement to study medical cannabis therapies for cancer, according to a copy of the proposed agreement reviewed by POLITICO. (Bertrand and Zhang, 2/3)