President Donald Trump nominated Robert Weaver to be director of the Indian Health Service in the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services in October 2017.
Weaver reportedly withdrew from consideration for the position in February 2018 after the Wall Street Journal published multiple stories that questioned his work experience, (or lack thereof), job performance, and financial problems, which included filing for bankruptcy and failing to pay taxes on a business.
https://www.wsj.com/articles/trumps-nominee-for-indian-health-post-withdraws-1519247451
https://www.cnbc.com/2018/02/21/nominee-to-lead-indian-health-services-robert-weaver-drops-out.html
Weaver, a member of the Quapaw Tribe of Oklahoma, cited his business experience in running small businesses to demonstrate his qualifications to lead the Indian Health Service.
The Wall Street Journal, citing public documents and interviews, reported that Weaver had left his last employer “in a state of financial disarray, filed for personal bankruptcy and had liens imposed on one of his own businesses for failing to pay federal taxes.”
The Journal questioned the Trump Administration’s characterization that Weaver had about two decades of experience in hospital and health-care administration.
The newspaper reported that Weaver had “misrepresented his work experience at a Missouri hospital” to the Senate committee that interviewed him as part of the nomination process.
Weaver, the Journal said, claimed he had once had a supervisory position at St. John’s Regional Medical Center in Joplin, Mo. When reporters inquired about Weaver’s employment at the hospital, officials, whose employment had coincided with Weaver’s, said they had never heard of him.
https://www.wsj.com/articles/trumps-nominee-for-indian-health-post-withdraws-1519247451
https://www.cnbc.com/2018/02/21/nominee-to-lead-indian-health-services-robert-weaver-drops-out.html
In a statement Wednesday night, U.S. Sen. Thomas Udall, a Democrat from New Mexico and vice chairman of the Indiana Affairs Committee, said the withdrawal of Weaver’s name was “appropriate given the serious questions recently raised about his suitability to lead a vitally important health agency.”
Udall urged the Trump administration to conduct a more comprehensive review of its next nominee to lead the agency.
Weaver, however, said he did not willingly withdraw but was “forced out.” Weaver said in a letter that he was told he had “two minutes” to decide whether to bow out or “face the public humiliation of having the White House withdraw his nomination.”
He said the White House gave him no reason for why he was forced to withdraw his nomination.
https://indianz.com/News/2018/02/22/failed-indian-health-service-nominee-las.asp
