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February 20,2020

Dr. Bruce Moskowitz
c/o Joel S. Green, Esq.
Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale and Don LLP
1875 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW
Washington, D.C. 20006
Dear Dr. Moskowitz:
Our Committees are investigating potential improper influence at the Department
Veterans Affairs (VA) by members of the Mar-a-Lago Club in Palm Beach, Florida.

of

According to reports, three members of the private club-Dr. Moskowitz, Mr. Marc
Sherman, and Mr. Isaac Perlmutter-have exerted significant influence over VA's policy,
personnel, and program decisions even though none of them hold positions at VA or have any
government or U.S. military experience. Former VA Secretary David Shulkin recently wrote
that "knowing that Ike, Bruce and Marc had the president's ear in ways that I did not, even as his
cabinet secretary, I made efforts to be responsive to their advice and feedback." He further
explained that o'there was a'second track' of VA decision-making led by the president's
alternative advisers that didn't include me."l

Reports indicate that Mr. Perlmutter, Dr. Moskowitz, andMr. Sherman provided input on
job candidates, edited a budget for a VA program, and were "treated as having decision-making
authority on policy initiatives."2 Reports have also raised questions about their role in VA's June
2019 approval of the use of a new drug, Spravato, to treat depression despite concerns about the
drug's effectiveness.3 VA officials reportedly raised ethics questions about then-Secretary

I David Shulkin, It Shouldn't Be This Hard to Serve Your
Country: Our Broken Government and the Plight
ofVeterans (2019).

2

VA Shadow Rulers Had Sway Over Contrqcting and Budgetrng, ProPublica (Dec. 3,2018) (online at
www.propublica.org/article/va-shadow-rulers-had-sway-over-conhacting-and-budgeting); see qlso The Shadow
Rulers of the VA, ProPublica (Aug. 7,2018) (online at www.propublica.org/article/ike-perlmutter-bruce-moskowitzmarc-sherman-shadow-rulers-of-the-va); CREW Obtains New Docs On Mar-a-Lago Member's VA Influence,
Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (Aug. 20, 2019) (online at www.citizensforethics.orglmar-alago-members-va-infl uence/).
3 Veterans Agency
to Offer New Depression Drug, Despite Cost and Safety Concerns,New York Times
(June 21,2019) (online at www.nytimes.com/2019106121/healthketamine-depression-veterans.html); Trump's
Praise Put Drug For Vets on Fast Track, but Experts Aren't Sure It llorks, Center for Public Integrity (June 18,

2019) (online at https://publicintegrity.org/federal-politics/trumps-raves-put-drug-for-vets-on-fast-track-but-expertsarent-sure-it-

works/?utm_sourceilewsletter&utm medium:email&utm_campaign:newsletter_axiosvitals&streamnop).

PRINTED ON RECYCLED PAPER

 Dr. Bruce Moskowitz
February 20,2020
Page2
Shulkin's appearance at an event at the New York Stock Exchange on Novemb er 7 ,2017 , which
also involved Johnson & Johnson and Mr. Perlmutter's company, Marvel.a
To assist the Committees in conducting our review, please produce the following
documents by March 6,2020, covering the period from November 9, 20l6,to the present:

I

All communications to or from any VA personnel, including but not limited to the
individuals identified below and any assistants or designees of these individuals:
a.

b.
c.
d.

Ullyot;

e.

John

f.

Darin Selnick;
Jake Leinenkugel; or
Camilo Sandoval; and

(t
E.

h.
2

Dr. David Shulkin (including but not limited to emails to and from
Drshulkin@aol.com and secshulkin@gmail.com);
Robert Wilkie;
Thomas Bowman;
Peter O'Rourke;

All communications to or from any White

House personnel, including but not

limited to:
a.

b.
c.
d.
e.

f.
o
E'

h.
3

President Trump;
John Kelly;
Jared Kushner;
Stephen Miller;

Darin Selnick;
Drew Trojanowski;
Jake Leinenkugel; or
Camilo Sandoval; and

All communications to or from Mr.

Isaac Perlmutter or Mr. Marc Sherman,

regarding:
a.

VA;

b.

Veterans Health Administration (VHA);
VA Formulary;
any candidates for positions at the VA;
President Trump;
the White House;
Epic Systems Corporation;
Cerner Corporation;

c.
d.
e.

f.
(}

E'

h.

4

The Shadow Rulers of the VA, ProPublica (Aug. 7, 2018) (online at www.propublica.org/article/ikeperlmutter-bruce-moskowitz-marc- sherman-shadow-rulers-of-the-va).

 Dr. Bruce Moskowitz
February 20,2020
Page

3

i.

j.
k.
l.
m.
n.
o.

p.
q.

r.
s.

4.

All communications to or from any directors, executives, or personnel at Johnson
& Johnson or Janssen Pharmaceuticals regarding:
a.

VA;

b.

veterans;
the November 7,2017 New York Stock Exchange event;
Spravato or esketamine; or
Veterans' mental health, suicide, or depression; and

c.
d.
e.
5

electronic medical records or electronic health records;
the November 7,2017 New York Stock Exchange event;
development of a mobile app for veterans;
development of a medical device registry;
Johnson & Johnson;
Janssen Pharmaceuticals ;
Alex Gorsky;
Courtney Billington;
Spravato or esketamine;
veterans' mental health, depression, or suicides; or
any individual listed in Requests I or 2 above; and

Documents sufficient to show all direct and indirect holdings in Johnson &
Johnson controlled by Dr. Bruce Moskowitz, or by any foundations, trusts, or
other entities controlled by Dr. Bruce Moskowitz, as well as the acquisition, sale,
or transfer of such holdings, during this period.

Please note that this request covers communications sent or received by government
email accounts as well as personal email accounts and other methods of communication.

In addition, the Committees request that you preserve all potentially relevant evidence,
including all records, documents, communications, and other information within your
possession, custody, or control relating to the subjects of this investigation. Please take
reasonable steps to prevent the partial or full destruction, alteration, testing, deletion, shredding,
incineration, wiping, relocation, migration, theft, or mutation of electronic records, including
emails, as well as negligent or intentional handling which would foreseeably make such records
incomplete or inaccessible.
The Committee on Veterans' Affairs has jurisdiction over ooveterans' hospitals, medical
care, and treatment of veterans" under House Rule X. The Committee on Oversight and Reform
is the principal oversight committee of the House of Representatives and has broad authority to
investigate "any matter" at"any time" under House Rule X.

An attachment to this letter provides additional instructions for responding to this request.
Should you have any questions about this request, please contact the Committee on Veterans'
Affairs at (202) 225-9756 or the Committee on Oversight and Reform at (202) 225-5051.

 Dr. Bruce Moskowitz
February 20,2020
Page 4

Thank you for your prompt attention to this request.
Sincerely,

Mark Takano

Carolyn B.

Chairman
Committee on Veterans' Affairs

Committee on Oversight and Reform

Enclosure
cc

The Honorable Dr. Phil Roe, Ranking Member
Committee on Veterans' Affairs
The Honorable Jim Jordan, Ranking Member
Committee on Oversight and Reform

 Responding to Document Requests fror4 the Veterans' Affairs Committee and Oversisht
Committee
1

In complying with this request, produce all responsive documents that are in your
possession, custody, or control, whether held by you or your past or present agents,
employees, and representatives acting on your behalf. Produce all documents that you
have a legal right to obtain, that you have a right to copy, or to which you have access, as
well as documents that you have placed in the temporary possession, custody, or control
of any third party.

2.

Requested documents, and all documents reasonably related to the requested documents,
should not be destroyed, altered, removed, transferred, or otherwise made inaccessible to

the Committees.
a
J

In the event that any entity, organization, or individual denoted in this request is or has
been known by any name other than that herein denoted, the request shall be read also to
include that alternative identihcation.

4

The Committees' preference is to receive documents in electronic form (i.e., CD,
memory stick, thumb drive, or secure file transfer) in lieu of paper productions.

5

Documents produced in electronic format should be organized, identified, and indexed
electronically.

6.

Electronic document productions should be prepared according to the following
standards:
a.

The production should consist of single page Tagged Image File ("TIF"), files
accompanied by a Concordance-format load file, an Opticon reference file, and a
file defining the fields and character lengths of the load file.

b.

Document numbers in the load file should match document Bates numbers and
TIF file names.

c.

If the production is completed through

d.

All electronic documents produced to the Committees should include the

a series of multiple partial productions,
field names and file order in all load files should match.

following fields of metadata specific to each document, and no modifications
should be made to the original metadata:
BEGDOC, ENDDOC, TEXT, BEGATTACH, ENDATTACH, PAGECOTINT,
CUSTODIAN, RECORDTYPE, DATE, TIME, SENTDATE, SENTTIME,
BEGINDATE, BEGINTIME, ENDDATE, ENDTIME, AUTHOR, FROM, CC,
TO, BCC, SUBJECT, TITLE, FILENAME, FILEEXT, FILESIZE,
DATECREATED, TIMECREATED, DATELASTMOD, TIMELASTMOD,

 INTMSGID, INTMSGHEADER, NATIVELINK, INTFILPATH, EXCEPTION,
BEGATTACH.
7

Documents produced to the Committees should include an index describing the contents
of the production. To the extent more than one CD, hard drive, memory stick, thumb
drive, zip fle, box, or folder is produced, each should contain an index describing its
contents.

8

Documents produced in response to this request shall be produced together with copies
file labels, dividers, or identifuing markers with which they were associated when the
request was served.

9

When you produce documents, you should identifr the paragraph(s) or request(s) in the
Committees' letter to which the documents respond

10

The fact that any other person or entity also possesses non-identical or identical copies
the same documents shall not be a basis to withhold any information.

1l

The pendency of or potential for litigation shall not be a basis to withhold any
information.

12

In accordance with 5 U.S.C.$ 552(d), the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) and any
statutory exemptions to FOIA shall not be a basis for withholding any information.

13.

Pursuant to 5 U.S.C. $ 552a(b)(9), the Privacy Act shall not be a basis for withholding

of

of

information.
14.

If compliance with

15.

In the event that a document is withheld on the basis of privilege, provide a privilege log
containing the following information concerning any such document: (a) every privilege
asserted; (b) the type of document; (c) the general subject matter; (d) the date, author,
addressee, and any other recipient(s); (e) the relationship ofthe author and addressee to
each other; and (0 the basis for the privilege(s) asserted.

t6.

If any document responsive to this request was, but no longer is, in your possession,
custody, or control, identiff the document (by date, author, subject, and recipients), and

the request cannot be made in full by the specified return date,
compliance shall be made to the extent possible by that date. An explanation of why full
compliance is not possible shall be provided along with any partial production.

explain the circumstances under which the document ceased to be in your possession,
custody, or control.

t7

If

a date or other descriptive detail set forth in this request referring to a document is
inaccurate, but the actual date or other descriptive detail is known to you or is otherwise
apparent from the context of the request, produce all documents that would be responsive
as if the date or other descriptive detail were correct.

2

 18

This request is continuing in nature and applies to any newly-discovered information.
Any record, document, compilation of data, or information not produced because it has
not been located or discovered by the retum date shall be produced immediately upon
subsequent location or discovery.

19.

All documents shall be Bates-stamped sequentially

20

Four sets of each production shall be delivered, one set to the Veterans' Affairs
Committee Majority Staff, one set to the Veterans' Affairs Committee Minority Staff,
one set to the Oversight Committee Majority Staff, and one set to the Oversight
Committee Minority Staff. When documents are produced to the Committees,
production sets shall be delivered to the Veterans' Affairs Committee Majority Staff in
Room 8234 of the Longworth House Office Building, to the Oversight Committee
Majority Staff in Room 2157 of the Rayburn House Offrce Building and the Veterans'
Affairs and Oversight Committees Minority Staff at the rooms of their designation.

2t.

Upon completion of the production, submit a written certification, signed by you or your
counsel, stating that: (1) a diligent search has been completed of all documents in your
possession, custody, or control that reasonably could contain responsive documents; and
(2) all documents located during the search that arc responsive have been produced to the
Committees.

and produced sequentially.

Definitions
I

The term "document" means any written, recorded, or graphic matter of any nature
whatsoever, regardless of how recorded, and whether original or copy, including, but not
limited to, the following: memoranda, reports, expense reports, books, manuals,
instructions, financial reports, data, working papers, records, notes, letters, notices,
confirmations, telegrams, receipts, appraisals, pamphlets, magazines, newspapers,
prospectuses, communications, electronic mail (email), contracts, cables, notations of any
type of conversation, telephone call, meeting or other inter-office or intra-office
communication, bulletins, printed matter, computer printouts, teletypes, invoices,
transcripts, diaries, analyses, returns, summaries, minutes, bills, accounts, estimates,
projections, comparisons, messages, coffespondence, press releases, circulars, financial
statements, reviews, opinions, offers, studies and investigations, questionnaires and
surveys, and work sheets (and all drafts, preliminary versions, alterations, modifications,
revisions, changes, and amendments of any of the foregoing, as well as any attachments
or appendices thereto), and graphic or oral records or representations ofany kind
(including without limitation, photographs, charts, graphs, microfi che, microfilm,
videotape, recordings and motion pictures), and electronic, mechanical, and electric
records or representations of any kind (including, without limitation, tapes, cassettes,
disks, and recordings) and other written, printed, typed, or other graphic or recorded
matter of any kind or nature, however produced or reproduced, and whether preserved in
writing, film, tape, disk, videotape, or otherwise. A document bearing any notation not a

J

 part of the original text is to be considered a separate document. A draft or non-identical
copy is a separate document within the meaning of this term.
2

J

The term "communication" means each manner or means of disclosure or exchange of
information, regardless of means utilized, whether oral, electronic, by document or
otherwise, and whether in a meeting, by telephone, facsimile, mail, releases, electronic
message including email (desktop or mobile device), text message, instant message,
MMS or SMS message, message application, or otherwise.

The terms o'and" and "or" shall be construed broadly and either conjunctively or
disjunctively to bring within the scope of this request any information that might
otherwise be construed to be outside its scope. The singular includes plural number, and
vice versa. The masculine includes the feminine and n"ut.r genders.

4

The term'oincluding" shall be construed broadly to mean "including, but not limited

5

The term "Company" means the named legal entity as well as any units, frrms,
partnerships, associations, co{porations, limited liability .o-p*i.r, trusts, subsidiaries,
affrliates, divisions, departments, branches, joint ventures, proprietorships, syndicates, or
other legal, business or govemment entities over which the named legal entity exercises
control or in which the named entity has any ownership whatsoever.

6.

The term "identifr," when used in a question about individuals, means to provide the
following information: (a) the individual's complete rurme and title; (b) the
individual's business or personal address and phone number; and (c) any and all
known aliases.

7

8

9

to."

The term "related to" or ooreferring or relating to," with respect to any given subject,
means anything that constitutes, contains, embodies, reflects, identifies, states, refers to,
deals with, or is pertinent to that subject in any manner whatsoever.
The term o'employee" means any past or present agent, borrowed employee, casual
employee, consultant, contractor, de facto employee, detailee, fellow, independent
contractor, intem, joint adventurer, loaned employee, officer, part-time employee,
permanent employee, provisional employee, special government employee,
subcontractor, or any other type ofservice provider.
The term "individual" means all natural persons and all persons or entities acting on
their behalf.

4