Scott Brown: I’m ‘the best person’ to be Trump’s VA secretary

Brown, who endorsed Trump before the New Hampshire primary in early February, walked out of a meeting with the president-elect at Trump Tower Monday morning and told reporters, “I’m not competing with anybody” for the VA secretary post.

“I think I’m the best person, but there are some tremendous people out there and I don’t look at it as a competition,” Brown said. “I was in the military since I was 19 years old and served for 35 years. It’s something I feel very passionate about.”

Brown said leading the VA, an agency marred by one scandal after another and one Trump promised to overhaul during his presidential campaign, is the “toughest job in the Cabinet because it has so many problems and it is so visible and people’s lives are depending on whether you do it right or wrong.”

“There’s still high suicide. There’s still long lines. There’s still a culture of putting the soldiers as a second-class person versus making it a top priority,” he explained. “There have been some improvements but with all due respect, there needs to be a tremendous amount of work there.”

Brown described his meeting with Trump as “great” because the incoming Republican president carefully listened to his ideas and suggestions regarding improvements that can be made to improve the government’s overall care of U.S. veterans.

“We obviously spoke about my passion and his passion, which are veterans and veterans’ issues,” he said. “So he’s obviously going to take my application or interest under consideration … and he’s obviously going to meet other folks and we should probably know after Thanksgiving.”

Trump is slated to meet with seven other policymakers or former aides at his gilded Manhattan skyscraper on Monday, including Democratic Congresswoman Tulsi Gabbard, who is rumored to be under consideration for VA secretary or U.S. ambassador to the United Nations.