VA Secretary Says He Never Misrepresented Military Service In Bio

The head of the Veterans Affairs Department on Tuesday said he has never misrepresented his military service in his biographical information.

A contrite Bob McDonald apologized during a press conference for incorrectly stating that he had served in the Special Forces during a conversation with a homeless veteran in Los Angeles last month. “I made a mistake, and I apologize for it,” said the graduate of the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, who served in the 82^nd Airborne Division.

McDonald said he was trying to connect with the veteran “and make him feel comfortable,” which led to the misstatement. But the former head of Procter and Gamble, whom President Obama tapped last year to rescue the scandal-plagued VA, said he has never inflated his resume by saying he served in the Special Forces. “If you look at my 61 years of biography, you will never find anywhere, in any of my biographies, that I have claimed to be part of Special Forces. I’ve never claimed that.”

The Huffington Post first reported the incident on Monday, nearly a month after it occurred. McDonald had traveled to Los Angeles for an event on veteran homelessness in January; CBS News aired a Jan. 30 report that included McDonald’s comment to the homeless veteran, who told the VA secretary that he had served in the Special Forces.

The VA secretary, who recently clashed publicly with Colorado Republican Rep. Mike Coffman during a February congressional hearing, said “integrity” and “character” are part of who he is. “I will do better to make sure I don’t make mistakes like I did in Los Angeles.”

Responding to a reporter’s question on Tuesday, McDonald said no one who witnessed the conversation told him at the time that he had misspoken.

“My whole purpose in this job is to try to connect with veterans, and to better serve veterans, and that’s what I was trying to do,” the secretary said during the briefing outside of VA headquarters in Washington.