Robert McDonald, the Veterans Affairs Secretary, has admitted that he lied about his service in special operational forces.
McDonald allegedly was involved in a conversation with a homeless veteran where the politician confessed the truth to the former vet, not knowing that he was being captured on film.
According to the Huffington Post, McDonald made the claim that he served in the Special Forces last January when working on a project to replace homeless veterans. When discovering that one of the former veterans was involved in special ops, McDonald seemed delighted and stated, “Special Forces? What years? I was in special forces,” a conversation that was caught on camera and shown on CBS.
While McDonald did attend West Point and completed Army Ranger training, he never saw action, and told The Huffington Post “I have no excuse. I was not in special forces.” McDonald then stated that he, “reacted spontaneously and I reacted wrongly.”
The White House then responded to McDonald via The Huffington Post stating, “Secretary McDonald has apologized for the misstatement and noted that he never intended to misrepresent his military service. We take him at his word and expect that this will not impact the important work he’s doing to promote the health and well-being of our nation’s veterans.”
McDonald is relatively new to his position taking office in June, and many wonder why he made the claim, knowing that it could be something that could be researched and confirmed. It does appear that The White House has accepted his apology and has forgiven him, knowing that his heart is in the right place, as he works to relocate these veterans who have fallen on hard times.
Photo By: AP Photo/Chris O’Meara
