--- title: Obama: Veterans Affairs Misconduct is Intolerable description: "If there is misconduct it will be punished," said Obama, who defended embattled Veterans Affairs Secretary Eric Shinseki but stopped short of fully backing him canonical: https://time.com/107493/obama-i-will-not-tolerate-veterans-affairs-misconduct/ author: Zeke Miller article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2014-05-21T15:43:35.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-08-04T08:01:18.129Z article:section: Politics og:title: Obama: Veterans Affairs Misconduct is Intolerable og:description: "If there is misconduct it will be punished," said Obama, who defended embattled Veterans Affairs Secretary Eric Shinseki but stopped short of fully backing him og:url: https://time.com/107493/obama-i-will-not-tolerate-veterans-affairs-misconduct/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt921bc10360226fde/69869058e53aba00b74d2ac1/obama-pissed.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 2695 og:image:height: 1516 og:image:alt: President Barack Obama speaks at the White House following his meeting with Veterans Affairs Secretary Eric Shinseki in Washington on May 21, 2014. og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Obama: Veterans Affairs Misconduct is Intolerable twitter:description: "If there is misconduct it will be punished," said Obama, who defended embattled Veterans Affairs Secretary Eric Shinseki but stopped short of fully backing him twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt921bc10360226fde/69869058e53aba00b74d2ac1/obama-pissed.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Obama: 'I Will Not Tolerate' Veterans Affairs Misconduct > Sponsored content. 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It explains the politics, personalities and power dynamics behind the headlines, three times a week. #### Where can I get analysis of Washington politics by email? D.C. Brief is TIME's free Washington politics newsletter, available at time.com/newsletters. It is written by a TIME senior correspondent who covers the capital full time. #### Who writes TIME's D.C. Brief? Philip Elliott, a senior correspondent at TIME, writes D.C. Brief. #### Is D.C. Brief free? Yes. D.C. Brief is free at time.com/newsletters. ## Video: Obama on Veterans Affairs [Watch (HLS stream): Obama on Veterans Affairs](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/NFzLWtMZ.m3u8) (1:36)  _Published 2014-05-21. Obama defends embattled Secretary of Veterans Affairs Rick Shinseki, but looks into mistreatment allegations._ by [Zeke Miller](https://time.com/author/zeke-j-miller/) ## Zeke Miller May 21, 2014 3:43 PM UTC  President Barack Obama speaks at the White House following his meeting with Veterans Affairs Secretary Eric Shinseki in Washington on May 21, 2014. President Barack Obama speaks at the White House following his meeting with Veterans Affairs Secretary Eric Shinseki in Washington on May 21, 2014. Susan Walsh—AP by [Zeke Miller](https://time.com/author/zeke-j-miller/) ## Zeke Miller May 21, 2014 3:43 PM UTC President Barack Obama got angry Wednesday after weeks of allegations of misconduct at Veterans Affairs facilities, but defended his embattled Secretary of Veterans Affairs Eric Shinseki — for now, at least. Speaking to reporters from the White House in his first public remarks on the subject in nearly a month, Obama said he has ordered Shinseki to conduct a review alongside a independent inspector general review, adding if the allegations prove to be true, “It is dishonorable, it is disgraceful, and I will not tolerate it. Period.” Last month CNN [reported](http://www.cnn.com/2014/04/23/health/veterans-dying-health-care-delays/index.html) that the VA health facility in Phoenix had been cooking the books to cover up long wait times, potentially leading to the deaths of 40 veterans, allegations that have now been made about other facilities around the country. “Once we know the facts, I assure you that if there is misconduct it will be punished,” Obama said, acknowledging he doesn’t yet know how widespread the problem is. “I don’t yet know are there a lot of other facilities that have been cooking the books or is this just an episodic problem,” he said. Obama said Shinseki will present him with the preliminary results of his review, which has expanded to all VA facilities, next week. Obama also tasked Deputy Chief of Staff Rob Nabors to lead a review of the entire Veterans Health Administration, which has long been plagued by backlogs and delays. Nabors will travel to Phoenix later Wednesday after meeting with veterans’ groups in Washington. Obama sought to highlight the progress his administration has made in bringing down the disability claims backlog and the veterans unemployment rate, crediting Shinseki with much of the progress, but witholding his full backing until the completion of the investigations. “Ric Shinseki I think serves this country because he cares deeply about veterans and he cares deeply about the mission,” Obama said. “And I know that Ric’s attitude is if he does not think he can do a good job on this, and if he thinks he’s let our veterans down, then I’m sure that he is not going to be interested in continuing to serve.” The allegations have become the latest political headache for the president, with Republican lawmakers alleging the White House should have known about efforts to misreport wait times sooner. Obama called on Congress to put partisanship aside as the investigation continues. “It is important that our veterans don’t become another political football, especially when so many of them are receiving care right now,” he said. ## Transcript Good morning, everybody. I just met with Secretary Shinseki and Rob Nabors, who I temporarily assigned to work with Shek Secretary Shinseki and the VA. We focused on two issues: the allegations of misconduct at Veterans Affairs facilities, and our broader mission of caring for our veterans and their families. If these allegations prove to be true, it is dishonorable. It is disgraceful. And I will not tolerate it. Period. Here's what I discussed with Secretary Shinseki this morning. First, anybody found to have manipulated or falsified records at VA facilities has to be held accountable. Second, I wanna know the full scope of this problem. And that's why I ordered Secretary Shinseki to investigate. Today he updated me on his review, which is looking not just at the Phoenix facility but also VA facilities across the nation. And I expect preliminary results from that review next week. Rick Shinseki, I think, serves this country because he cares deeply about veterans, and he cares deeply about the mission. At this stage, Rick is committed to solving the problem, and working with us to do it. And I am going to do everything in my power using the resources of the White House to help that process of getting to the bottom of what happened, and fixing it. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/107493/obama-i-will-not-tolerate-veterans-affairs-misconduct/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/107493/obama-i-will-not-tolerate-veterans-affairs-misconduct/"},"headline":"Obama: 'I Will Not Tolerate' Veterans Affairs Misconduct","datePublished":"2014-05-21T15:43:35.000Z","dateModified":"2026-08-04T08:01:18.129Z","description":"\"If there is misconduct it will be punished,\" said Obama, who defended embattled Veterans Affairs Secretary Eric Shinseki but stopped short of fully backing him","url":"https://time.com/107493/obama-i-will-not-tolerate-veterans-affairs-misconduct/","keywords":["Veterans","Barack Obama","White House"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt921bc10360226fde/69869058e53aba00b74d2ac1/obama-pissed.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Zeke Miller","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/zeke-j-miller/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt921bc10360226fde/69869058e53aba00b74d2ac1/obama-pissed.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"President Barack Obama speaks at the White House following his meeting with Veterans Affairs Secretary Eric Shinseki in Washington on May 21, 2014.","caption":"President Barack Obama speaks at the White House following his meeting with Veterans Affairs Secretary Eric Shinseki in Washington on May 21, 2014.","creditText":"Susan Walsh—AP","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/politics/","name":"Politics"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/veterans/","name":"Veterans"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/107493/obama-i-will-not-tolerate-veterans-affairs-misconduct/","name":"Obama: 'I Will Not Tolerate' Veterans Affairs Misconduct"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"Obama on Veterans Affairs","description":"Obama defends embattled Secretary of Veterans Affairs Rick Shinseki, but looks into mistreatment allegations.","thumbnailUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/NFzLWtMZ/poster.jpg?width=720","uploadDate":"2014-05-21T16:58:51.000Z","contentUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/NFzLWtMZ.m3u8","embedUrl":"https://time.com/107493/obama-i-will-not-tolerate-veterans-affairs-misconduct/","duration":"PT1M36S","potentialAction":{"@type":"SeekToAction","target":"https://time.com/107493/obama-i-will-not-tolerate-veterans-affairs-misconduct/?jw_start={seek_to_second_number}","startOffset-input":"required name=seek_to_second_number"}}] ```