The Trump administration cabinet secretary for veterans affairs rattled a reporter during a recent interview when he pulled out a copy of her latest article on his department and called out her use of rumors and innuendo to insinuate that he’s putting former service members at risk.
Doug Collins, an Air Force veteran who served in Congress before being tapped by President Donald Trump to lead an office with nearly half a million government employees, lit into journalist Patricia Kime while speaking about U.S. Department of Government Efficiency activities within the VA. The freelance reporter had just filed a story with Military.com suggesting that DOGE employees had “barged” into the building and accessed sensitive client records.
Collins, 58, took umbrage with Kime’s characterization, causing her to shrink back from the criticism and admit he was making “fair” points about her reporting.
“I need your help, because all I seem to be doing lately is fighting back against innuendo and rumor stories… in fact, Patricia, part of it is with you,” he said during an on-camera interview highlighted by the Citizen Free Press. “When you start stories with ‘there’s a rumor going around’ and that ‘we’ve heard that’ — that