UPDATE: White House Tells All VA Facilities to Han
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The White House issued a directive to all VA facilities, instructing them to hang a portrait of President Trump, Ed Henry reported this morning.
"Fox & Friends" has reported on this all week after Republican congressman and Army veteran Brian Mast hung a portrait of President Trump and Secretary of Veterans Affairs David Shulkin at the West Palm Beach VA Medical Center.
The pictures were then taken down by staffers, with one reportedly declaring that President Trump was not his president.
Mast and local veterans spoke out against the move, though the management argued there was a protocol for hanging the photos and they'd need to be authenticated.
Henry said there's been a huge reaction on social media to this story, but it remains to be seen whether VA facilities around the country will follow the order and actually hang the portrait.
He said the current plan is to hang an unofficial photo until the government releases an official portrait of President Trump. Henry said it's commonplace for the current president's picture to be hung in government buildings.
A VA spokeswoman said that the congressman’s actions and the actions of the veterans who accompanied him were "inappropriate." She said that portraits on display at the VA need to come from the central office.
A Marine veteran said earlier in the show that he went to his local Minnesota VA facility recently and inquired about why the new president's picture wasn't there, like Barack Obama's had been.
He said he was told by a worker that the facility didn't want to bother because "they're planning on impeaching him."
Rep. Mast, who lost his legs in an IED blast in Afghanistan and still receives treatment at the Florida facility, joined "Fox & Friends" on Thursday, explaining that when veterans see a problem, they take action.
"This is exactly what pisses people off about the government is they don't have that kind of reactionary capability to just fix a problem immediately. Here we see they made an even bigger problem out of the situation," he said.
Mast said the Veterans Administration belongs to those who have served the country, not to the VA employees.
"There is absolutely a political end to this," said Mast, adding that VA employee unions campaigned heavily against President Trump, including in his district.
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