OnPolitics Today: VA chief David Shulkin is done. Next up for Trump? Amazon, maybe

Posted by Anonymous on March 29, 2018

with Josh Hafner

Veterans Affairs Secretary David Shulkin appears before

Remember David Shulkin, the Veterans Affairs secretary who used a forged email to fly his wife to Europe on taxpayers' dime? He's the latest White House ouster, unshockingly, announced by President Trump Wednesday in ~~a very professional and formal statement~~ a tweet.

Also in Trump's cross hairs: Amazon, a new report says, though the online behemoth may be beyond his reach.

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Shulkin and stirred

Shulkin, now added to Trump's many firings and forced departures, aided his own downfall by balking at an ethics investigation that last month revealed the "misuse of VA resources" involving his wife and free Wimbledon tennis tickets. A black cloud had hung over the department since. Pentagon undersecretary Robert Wilkie will take over the nation's largest health care system as acting secretary until Rear Adm. Ronny Jackson, official physician to the president, can take his place.

Just the thought of Trump chasing Amazon made its shares drop

A report that Trump is "obsessed" with wanting to "go after" Amazon's tax treatment caused the online giant to tumble in market value Wednesday, losing tens of millions of dollars. That report, from Axios, cites five unnamed sources who say Trump's worried about the monster retailer's threat to smaller businesses. The White House downplayed any Amazon plans, but experts say Trump can do little to to hamper Amazon's massive growth under current antitrust practices. The company might be vulnerable to local sales taxes, however.

Mueller says Trump staffer kept Russian contact

Rick Gates, once an aide to Trump's campaign, stayed in touch with a person who may have been connected to Russian intelligence ahead of the president's 2016 win. That's according to special counsel Robert Mueller, whose documents claim Gates was "directly communicating" with the person in the two months before the election. Gates himself has already pleaded guilty to conspiracy and lying to the FBI and vowed to help Mueller's investigation into Russia's covert influencing of the election. There's more: Trump's one-time attorney, John Dowd, looked into pardons for former Trump campaign chief Paul Manafort and ex-adviser Michael Flynn, according to The New York Times.

Meanwhile, the Justice Department on Wednesday announced its own investigation into whether the FBI abused surveillance powers while looking into Russian interference.

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