WASHINGTON – As former U.S. Rep. Doug Collins tells it, his appointment to Donald Trump’s Cabinet wasn’t a thunderclap moment that “fell from the sky.” Instead, it was the culmination of months of discussions that crystallized after the president’s victory.
Trump recruited the Georgia Republican during the campaign, but specifics weren’t clear until they met at Mar-a-Lago in mid-November: head of Veterans Affairs, one of the toughest – and most thankless – jobs in Washington.
“He looked at me and said, ‘Doug, it’s a big position, do you think you want it?’” Collins recounted, during his best Trump impression at a “Politically Georgia” live event last week. The ex-lawmaker quickly assented, setting him up for his most challenging role yet.
Collins built a national reputation as one of Trump’s fiercest defenders, with a rapid-fire delivery and gregarious attitude that made him as comfortable sparring on cable news as he was maneuvering through the halls of Congress.
He became a fixture of the president’s first impeachment battle, using his sharp elbows and jittery energy to counter Democratic attacks while championing Trump’s agenda, including amplifying the president’s false claims in 2020 that he had won a “rigged” election.
But his new job, which he started last week after winning bipartisan confirmation, involves a completely different skill set as he leads a complex bureaucracy with a $400 billion annual budget riddled with too many challenges to list.
It’s a role that rewards patience and policy expertise rather than campaign trail theatrics and cable news combat – and it’s far more likely to draw scrutiny for missteps than praise for successes as he navigates disability claim backlogs and long hospital wait times.
Collins’ authority is set to expand. Trump signed an order late Monday that designated Collins as interim head of the offices of Government Ethics and office of the Special Counsel after firing the heads of both government watchdog agencies.
Collins said he’s ready to go from political brawler to government taskmaster, taking on a job that requires a relentless operator to steer a vast bureaucracy that has long struggled to meet the health care needs of veterans.
Credit: Alyssa Pointer / Alyssa.Pointer@ajc.com
Credit: Alyssa Pointer / Alyssa.Pointer@ajc.com
“We fight the battles. We do that because there’s a partisan system in this country. But my view has always been that I’ll find common ground with you and we’ll work together. And that leads me to the VA,” Collins said in his most extensive interview since his confirmation.
The VA, he readily acknowledged, is a complicated and outdated bureaucratic machine in dire need of updating.
“But it also needs somebody like me, who’s been a congressman who knows how to work the Hill, who has been in the military for 23 years,” said Collins, a former pastor and longtime chaplain who is now a colonel in the Air Force Reserve.
“For me, it’s personal.”
‘Game recognizes game’
Despite embracing Trump’s “drain the swamp” mantra, Collins has long revered public service in Washington and the art of hashing out legislation.
An internship for former Democratic U.S. Rep. Ed Jenkins in 1987 set him on the path of public service. He spent hours on long-distance calls with Lisa, then his girlfriend and now his wife, daydreaming about one day holding office.
Collins took the first step in 2006, winning the first of three terms in the Georgia Legislature, where he helped then-Gov. Nathan Deal – a political ally – overhaul the cash-strapped Hope scholarship program at a time when leaders worried it would go broke.
Six years later, Collins defeated commentator Martha Zoller in a tough primary for an open U.S. House seat in northeast Georgia. The deep-red district ranked as the third most Republican in the nation that cycle, giving him a knack for speaking to his party’s base.
Collins, a lawyer and longtime preacher, was best known in Congress as Trump’s defender-in-chief during the impeachment inquiry into Russian interference in the 2016 election. As the ranking member of the House Judiciary Committee, he relished his role as a congressional pit bull.
Credit: Alex Wong
Credit: Alex Wong
But his bomb-throwing bombast often overshadowed his bipartisan streak. In the Legislature, he worked so closely with then-House Minority Stacey Abrams that she named an affable, if annoying, character after him in one of her romance novels.
And in Congress, he forged an unlikely friendship with U.S. Rep. Hakeem Jeffries of New York that bewildered Washington. When asked about their startling alliance, Collins often said with a chuckle that “game recognizes game.”
His relationship with Jeffries, now the House’s top Democrat, paved the way for the First Step Act, a bipartisan overhaul of the federal prison system that reduced sentences for some nonviolent offenders and expanded rehab programs.
The bill marked a rare moment of consensus during Trump’s first term, earning praise from both civil rights groups and conservative criminal justice advocates. And it echoed Collins’ earlier work in Georgia’s Legislature on the first stage of his prison overhaul.
Credit: TNS
Credit: TNS
In 2019, Collins saw an opening to take on a bigger political role. Gov. Brian Kemp had other plans. When Johnny Isakson stepped down from the U.S. Senate, Kemp ignored Trump’s pressure to pick Collins and instead selected financial executive Kelly Loeffler.
Collins ran anyway, and some Republicans still blame him for splintering the party’s base. Collins finished third in a 21-candidate special election, and Loeffler later lost to Democrat Raphael Warnock in a runoff that flipped control of the Senate.
Credit: TNS
Credit: TNS
Trump tapped Collins after his defeat to lead a ‘recount team’ that spread false claims of widespread fraud, deepening GOP divisions and prompting Republican Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger to repeatedly call Collins a “liar.”
It made Collins a pariah to some in Georgia’s political establishment, but it cemented his status as a MAGA favorite – he routinely drew as much applause as U.S. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene on the campaign trail – and kept him in Trump’s good graces.
With Trump’s return to office, Collins can’t help but feel a measure of redemption. Some of those who scorned him years ago are now showering him with praise. Among the 24 Democrats who crossed party lines to confirm him: Warnock and U.S. Sen. Jon Ossoff.
“My impression is that he intends to carry out his duties in this office in an apolitical way that’s focused on delivering for Georgia veterans,” Ossoff said.
‘Fallen short’
While Collins has bona fide military experience, he’s never run anything close to the scale of an agency with more than 400,000 employees and 1,300 health facilities.
His critics say that makes him unqualified for the daunting job ahead. His allies argue that his ability to connect with veterans, and knack for navigating thorny political fights, will serve him well. Zoller, his former rival and the daughter of a veteran, is one of them.
“As a veteran, Doug should be able to get the right team around him so that they can actually cut through the red tape,” said Zoller, who said his toughest task may be “clearing out the mess” of administrative layers that separates veterans from health care providers.
That won’t be easy. The agency has cycled through leaders who struggled to implement even modest changes, and efforts to modernize electronic health records have spanned four presidencies. Fixing it will take tenacity.
Collins described blunt closed-door sessions with U.S. senators where he told them he had no false illusions about the problems ahead. But he also had one overarching red line:
Credit: AP
Credit: AP
“There should be no veteran who has to call a senator or a congressman to get the help that they have earned. Every time they do that, the VA has fallen short.”
At his confirmation hearing, he delved deeply into policy minutiae and struck a bipartisan tone. When Democratic U.S. Sen. Patty Murray of Washington pressed him on revamping the VA’s troubled health record system, he was candid.
“At this point, the finger-pointing is done. It’s time to get it done. For one reason and one reason only – as I said earlier, the mission is the vet.”
Still, he made clear he has no problem wading into more partisan territory to carry out Trump’s agenda. When pressed on whether the VA should continue providing abortion services in states that ban the procedure, he said he’ll ensure the agency is “actually following the law.”
Credit: Nathan Posner for the Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Credit: Nathan Posner for the Atlanta Journal-Constitution
He told Politically Georgia he welcomes budget-slashing efforts by billionaire Elon Musk’s DOGE committee. And he has already begun to carry out the administration’s orders to end diversity, equity and inclusion programs. According to Collins’ tally, that could involve some 60 VA employees and $6 million worth of contracts.
How he handles the post could also shape his political future. Before his appointment, friends say, he was eyeing a 2026 race against Ossoff. Some also wanted him to challenge Republican U.S. Rep. Andrew Clyde to take back his old House seat.
Now, though, his focus is on the VA. Dan McLagan, a veteran Republican strategist and longtime Collins friend, said the newly mined Cabinet member will put his service first.
“He’s not a good choice – he’s the perfect choice for our veterans,” said McLagan. “It chokes me up just thinking about it.”
Washington bureau chief Tia Mitchell contributed to this report.
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