VA audit report released

Jennifer Griffin reacts to shocking new information on the VA scandal

This is a RUSH transcript from "The O'Reilly Factor," June 9, 2014. This copy may not be in its final form and may be updated.

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O'REILLY: In the "FACTOR Follow-up" segment tonight, some shocking new information about the V.A. scandal. The V.A. itself has just released an audit that says more than 57,000 vets have been waiting 90 days or more for their first medical appointment.

In addition, 64,000 veterans have never even received an appointment even though they requested one. Truly disturbing.

With us now, from Washington, National Security Correspondent Jennifer Griffins who's following this story. There's a hearing going on right now. We're live here tonight with the new Inspector General of the V.A., Richard Griffin.

And he's in front of Congress -- Congressional committee. What's going on there.

JENNIFER GRIFFIN, FOX NEWS NATIONAL SECURITY CORREPONDENT: Well, Bill, these numbers, they're actually worse than those numbers that you just mentioned. We've just learned from the V.A. Acting Inspector General who's testifying tonight.

You can see the light behind me in the Capitol, showing that they're doing the people's business as we speak. He's speaking before the House Veterans Affairs Committee.

And they are now investigating, he says, a total of 56, not 42 V.A. facilities accused of manipulating the data with regard to these wait times. In terms of the audit that was released today, 13 percent of the schedulers at the 731 V.A. hospitals and clinics that the V.A. itself investigated, 13 percent say they were told by their supervisors to falsify appointment schedules to make look like veterans weren't waiting so long.

In other words, 13 percent of the nearly 4,000 V.A. employees who were interviewed had been told to cook the books by their bosses. Seventy-six percent of the V.A. facilities audited had at least one instance of schedulers changing the dates to make the wait time not look so bad. So, it's really --

O'REILLY: Right. And one of the reasons that was done was because the V.A. officials in the cities, if they showed a certain level of competence, got money. They got bonuses.

GRIFFIN: That's right. They got bonuses. And that's the first thing that Sloan Gibson, who's the replacement for Eric Shinseki who's in charge of the V.A. right now, one of the 14 recommendations he gave today was that they could not meet these 14-day wait times.

He got rid of that. And he also has gotten rid of --

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

-- this practice of giving bonuses. That's something that Shinseki started in 2011. And it's something that has led to a lot of these problems.

O'REILLY: Yes. I would say, probably, most of them.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

Not many people know this but Jennifer Griffin is really the responsible party for all of the TrackChairs that we have been able to give to the amputees and the severely-wounded veterans from Iraq and Afghanistan.

She introduced me to the IndependenceFund.org and then we got the system rolling. I said -- and this might have been unfair, and I want to get your opinion on it -- that Shinseki, I knew, was not managing the V.A. properly because he never, one time, contacted you or me or --

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

-- the IndependenceFund.org and say, "Hey, can we help you in this effort." We've raised $25 million. We're getting the chairs --

(END VIDEO CLIP)

-- for the guys and gals. But he was totally detached from it. And that really struck me as strange.

GRIFFIN: It is strange, Bill. And there was a complete disconnect with the V.A. and with Shinseki himself. He has now stepped down.

Sloan Gibson is a good man. We've known him over at the USO for a number of years. He has come in to a very difficult situation.

It's interesting, we heard tonight from the Inspector General, Richard Griffin, that they have sen some recommendations over to Attorney General Holder, suggesting that there have been crimes committed here.

O'REILLY: Absolutely.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GRIFFIN: So, it will be -- it will be very interesting to see if the Attorney General and the Justice Department picks this up finally.

O'REILLY: Well, 21 senators, 10 Republicans and 11 Democrats --

(END VIDEO CLIP)

-- have asked Holder to launch a criminal investigation but he's not noted for that, Jennifer, as you may know.

(LAUGHTER)

We appreciate you coming on tonight.

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