Ex-VA secretary Shulkin plays dumb as MSNBC's Hayes grills him on why he was fired: 'I don't do politics very well'

In one of his first televised interviews since President Donald Trump announced via tweet that he was replacing him, outgoing Veterans Affairs secretary David Shulkin fell short of criticizing the president as MSNBC's Chris Hayes grilled him on his firing.

Shulkin told the host that he spoke to Trump the day of his firing, but not since it happened — and that during the apparently "normal" conversation, he had no indication from the president that he was soon to be fired.

"You spoke to him and he made no mention of the fact that he was about to terminate you?" Hayes pressed, to which Shulkin responded "that's correct." He went on to say he was informed that he was being replaced by White House chief of staff John Kelly just prior to the announcement being made on the president's Twitter account.

After doubling down on his claim that "political appointees" bent on privatizing the VA went so far as to plant negative stories about his taxpayer-funded travel to get him ousted, Shulkin refused to name who the appointees were or who appointed them.

"I don't do politics very well," Shulkin said. "Obviously."

Watch below, via MSNBC: