Charles Dharapak/AP
- Ike Perlmutter, the chairman of Marvel Entertainment and a longtime acquaintance of President Donald Trump, is leading an informal council that is exerting sweeping influence on the Veterans Affairs Department from Mar-a-Lago.
- None of the informal council’s three members has ever served in the US military or government.
- They have remained hidden except to a few VA insiders, who have come to call them “the Mar-a-Lago Crowd.”
- The Mar-a-Lago Crowd spoke with VA officials daily, according to documents obtained by a Freedom of Information Act request.
- They reviewed all manner of policy and personnel decisions, and prodded the VA to start new programs.
- “Everyone has to go down and kiss the ring,” a former administration official said of the group.
Last February, shortly after Peter O’Rourke became chief of staff for the Department of Veterans Affairs, he received an email from Bruce Moskowitz with his input on a new mental health initiative for the VA. “Received,” O’Rourke replied. “I will begin a project plan and develop a timeline for action.”
O’Rourke treated the email as an order, but Moskowitz is not his boss. In fact, he is not even a government official. Moskowitz is a Palm Beach doctor who helps wealthy people obtain high-service “concierge” medical care.See the rest of the story at Business Insider
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