Obama announces Shinseki resignation

President Obama announced Friday that embattled Veterans Affairs Secretary Eric Shinseki will resign, bowing to pressure from members of both parties amid a rapidly growing scandal over veterans' health care. 

"A few minutes ago, Secretary Shinseki offered me his own resignation. With considerable regret, I accepted," Obama said, after meeting with Shinseki at the White House. 


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President Obama plans to deliver a statement at the White House after meeting with embattled Veterans Affairs Secretary Eric Shinseki. 

The president is expected to speak at 11:15 a.m. ET.


The statement comes after a private meeting where the two were having what the president described as a "serious conversation" about whether Shinseki can stay in the job. Obama, in an interview, said he planned to ask Shinseki whether he was "prepared and has the capacity" to fix sweeping problems in the VA's nationwide health care system. 


The president has faced mounting calls from members of both parties to remove Shinseki. Shinseki suffered another blow on Friday when Rep. Tammy Duckworth, D-Ill., a former top VA official, called for her former boss' resignation. 


Earlier Friday morning, Shinseki publicly apologized for the failures in the VA system, while stopping short of offering his resignation. However, responding to an interim inspector general report which found "systemic" problems with clinics lying about patient wait times, Shinseki announced he would oust senior leaders at the Phoenix VA, where allegations of improper scheduling practices first surfaced. 

Shinseki, speaking to advocates for homeless veterans, said he initially believed the problems were "limited and isolated." 

"I no longer believe that. It is systemic," Shinseki said. "I will not defend it, because it is indefensible." 


The secretary's tone shifted dramatically compared with his testimony before a congressional committee earlier this month, when he continued to defend the VA system. On Friday, citing the IG report, he lamented a "totally unacceptable lack of integrity" at numerous VA facilities -- where reviews have found workers were manipulating wait times to make their internal figures look good. 


Shinseki said the "lack of integrity" is something he has "rarely encountered." He announced several steps to address the situation, short of resignation, including directing that patient wait times no longer be used as a measure of success in employee evaluations. 


Obama's comments about his "serious conversation" came in an interview airing Friday on the television talk show "Live! With Kelly and Michael." A clip from the interview was aired Friday on ABC's Good Morning America. 

The Associated Press contributed to this report.